Controlling Crystal Orientation in Films of Conjugated Polymers by Tuning the Surface Energy
It has been a long-term goal to understand the molecular orientation in films of conjugated polymers, which is crucial to their efficient exploitation. Here, we show that the surface energies determine the crystal orientation in films of model conjugated polymers, substituted polythiophenes crystall...
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| Published in: | Macromolecules Vol. 57; no. 21; pp. 10399 - 10409 |
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
American Chemical Society
12-11-2024
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| Online Access: | Get full text |
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| Summary: | It has been a long-term goal to understand the molecular orientation in films of conjugated polymers, which is crucial to their efficient exploitation. Here, we show that the surface energies determine the crystal orientation in films of model conjugated polymers, substituted polythiophenes crystallized on substrates. We systematically increase the surface energy of edge-on crystals formed at the vacuum interface by attaching polar groups to the ends of the polymer side chains. This suppresses crystallization at the vacuum interface, resulting in a uniform face-on crystal orientation induced by the graphene substrate in polythiophene films as thick as 200 nm, which is relevant for devices. Surprisingly, face-on crystal orientation is attained in the modified polythiophenes crystallized even on amorphous surfaces. Furthermore, for the samples with still competing interfacial interactions, the crystal orientation can be switched in the same sample, depending on the crystallization conditions. Thus, we report a fundamental understanding and control of the equilibrium crystal orientation in films of conjugated polymers. |
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| Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 Due to a production error, part of a sentence on page two of the document was accidentally deleted and published ASAP on October 29, 2024. The corrected version was reposted on October 31, 2024. |
| ISSN: | 0024-9297 1520-5835 |
| DOI: | 10.1021/acs.macromol.4c01819 |