Molecular organization in MAPLE-deposited conjugated polymer thin films and the implications for carrier transport characteristics

The morphological structure of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) thin films deposited by both Matrix Assisted Pulsed Laser Evaporation (MAPLE) and solution spin-casting methods are investigated. We found that the MAPLE samples possessed a higher degree of disorder, with random orientations of polymer cr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of polymer science. Part B, Polymer physics Polymer physics, 2016-09, Vol.55 (1)
Main Authors: Dong, Ban Xuan, Li, Anton, Strzalka, Joseph, Stein, Gila E., Green, Peter F.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
conjugated polymers
ellipsometry
MAPLE
MATERIALS SCIENCE
thin film transistor
X-ray
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:The morphological structure of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) thin films deposited by both Matrix Assisted Pulsed Laser Evaporation (MAPLE) and solution spin-casting methods are investigated. We found that the MAPLE samples possessed a higher degree of disorder, with random orientations of polymer crystallites along the side-chain stacking, π-π stacking, and conjugated backbone directions. Furthermore, the average molecular orientations and relative degrees of crystallinity of MAPLE-deposited polymer films are insensitive to the chemistries of the substrates onto which they were deposited; this is in stark contrast to the films prepared by the conventional spin-casting technique. In spite of the seemingly unfavorable molecular orientations and the highly disordered morphologies, the in-plane charge carrier transport characteristics of the MAPLE samples are comparable to those of spin-cast samples, exhibiting similar transport activation energies (56 meV versus 54 meV) to those reported in the literature for high mobility polymers.
ISSN:0887-6266
1099-0488