Conformational Order in Aggregates of Conjugated Polymers

• Published in: Journal of the American Chemical Society 2015-05, Vol.137 (19), p.6254-6262
• Main Authors: Jackson, Nicholas E, Kohlstedt, Kevin L, Savoie, Brett M, Olvera de la Cruz, Monica, Schatz, George C, Chen, Lin X, Ratner, Mark A
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: catalysis (homogeneous), catalysis (heterogeneous), solar (photovoltaic), solar (fuels), photosynthesis (natural and artificial), bio-inspired, hydrogen and fuel cells, electrodes - solar, defects, charge transport, spin dynamics, membrane, materials and chemistry by design, optics, synthesis (novel materials), synthesis (self-assembly)
• ISSN: 0002-7863; 1520-5126
• DOI: 10.1021/jacs.5b00493

With the abundant variety and increasing chemical complexity of conjugated polymers proliferating the field of organic semiconductors, it has become increasingly important to correlate the polymer molecular structure with its mesoscale conformational and morphological attributes. For instance, it is unknown which combinations of chemical moieties and periodicities predictably produce mesoscale ordering. Interestingly, not all ordered morphologies result in efficient devices. In this work we have parametrized accurate classical force-fields and used these to compute the conformational and aggregation characteristics of single strands of common conjugated polymers. Molecular dynamics trajectories are shown to reproduce experimentally observed polymeric ordering, concluding that efficient organic photovoltaic devices span a range of polymer conformational classes, and suggesting that the solution-phase morphologies have far-reaching effects. Encouragingly, these simulations indicate that despite the wide-range of conformational classes present in successful devices, local molecular ordering, and not long-range crystallinity, appears to be the necessary requirement for efficient devices. Finally, we examine what makes a “good” solvent for conjugated polymers, concluding that dispersive π-electron solvent–polymer interactions, and not the electrostatic potential of the backbone interacting with the solvent, are what primarily determine a polymer’s solubility in a particular solvent, and consequently its morphological characteristics.