@article{a077a64a970c49458449b68976d530c6,
title = "Engineering Intrinsic Flexibility in Polycrystalline Molecular Semiconductor Films by Grain Boundary Plasticization",
abstract = "Mechanically flexible films of the highly crystalline core-cyanated perylenediimide (PDIF-CN2) molecular semiconductor are achieved via a novel grain boundary plasticization strategy in which a specially designed polymeric binder (PB) is used to connect crystallites at the grain boundaries. The new PB has a naphthalenediimide-dithiophene π-conjugated backbone end-functionalized with PDI units. In contrast to conventional polymer-small molecule blends where distinct phase separation occurs, this blend film with plasticized grain boundaries exhibits a morphology typical of homogeneous PDIF-CN2 films which is preserved upon bending at radii as small as 2 mm. Thin-film transistors fabricated with PB/PDIF-CN2 blends exhibit substantial electron mobilities even after repeated bending. This design represents a new approach to realizing flexible and textured semiconducting π-electron films with good mechanical and charge transport properties.",
author = "Dan Zhao and Jianhua Chen and Binghao Wang and Gang Wang and Zhihua Chen and Junsheng Yu and Xugang Guo and Wei Huang and Marks, {Tobin J.} and Antonio Facchetti",
note = "Funding Information: We thank AFOSR (FA9550-18-1-0320; B.W.; G.W.; A.F.) the?Northwestern U. MRSEC (NSF DMR-1720139; W.H.), and Flexterra Corp. for support. This work made use of the J. B. Cohen X-ray Diffraction Facility, EPIC facility, Keck-II facility, and SPID facility of the NUANCE Center at Northwestern U., which received support from the Soft and Hybrid Nanotechnology Experimental (SHyNE) Resource (NSF NNCI-1542205); the MRSEC program (NSF DMR-1720139); the International Institute for Nanotechnology (IIN); the Keck Foundation; and the State of Illinois. D.Z. thanks the joint-Ph.D. program supported by the China Scholarship Council (No. 201806070113) for a fellowship. Funding Information: We thank AFOSR (FA9550-18-1-0320; B.W.; G.W.; A.F.), the Northwestern U. MRSEC (NSF DMR-1720139; W.H.), and Flexterra Corp. for support. This work made use of the J. B. Cohen X-ray Diffraction Facility, EPIC facility, Keck-II facility, and SPID facility of the NUANCE Center at Northwestern U., which received support from the Soft and Hybrid Nanotechnology Experimental (SHyNE) Resource (NSF NNCI-1542205); the MRSEC program (NSF DMR-1720139); the International Institute for Nanotechnology (IIN); the Keck Foundation; and the State of Illinois. D.Z. thanks the joint-Ph.D. program supported by the China Scholarship Council (No. 201806070113) for a fellowship. Publisher Copyright: Copyright {\textcopyright} 2020 American Chemical Society.",
year = "2020",
month = mar,
day = "25",
doi = "10.1021/jacs.9b12507",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "142",
pages = "5487--5492",
journal = "Journal of the American Chemical Society",
issn = "0002-7863",
publisher = "American Chemical Society",
number = "12",
}