TY - JOUR
T1 - The impact of molecular weight on microstructure and charge transport in semicrystalline polymer semiconductors-poly(3-hexylthiophene), a model study
AU - Koch, Felix Peter Vinzenz
AU - Rivnay, Jonathan
AU - Foster, Sam
AU - Müller, Christian
AU - Downing, Jonathan M.
AU - Buchaca-Domingo, Ester
AU - Westacott, Paul
AU - Yu, Liyang
AU - Yuan, Mingjian
AU - Baklar, Mohammed
AU - Fei, Zhuping
AU - Luscombe, Christine
AU - McLachlan, Martyn A.
AU - Heeney, Martin
AU - Rumbles, Garry
AU - Silva, Carlos
AU - Salleo, Alberto
AU - Nelson, Jenny
AU - Smith, Paul
AU - Stingelin, Natalie
N1 - Funding Information:
We are very grateful to the UK's Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council ( EP/G060738/1 and EP/F061757/1 ) the Dutch Polymer Institute (LATFE Programme) and the ACS Petroleum Fund (New Directions Proposal) for financial support. Portions of this research were carried out at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource, a national user facility operated by Stanford University on behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences. J.R. gratefully acknowledges support from the National Science Foundation (NSF) in the form of a Graduate Research Fellowship. NS is furthermore supported by a European Research Council (ERC) Starting Independent Researcher Fellowship under the grant agreement No. 279587. M.Y. and C.K.L. acknowledge the National Science Foundation (NSF CAREER Award DMR 0747489). G.R. acknowledges support from the Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Programme at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
PY - 2013/12
Y1 - 2013/12
N2 - Electronic properties of organic semiconductors are often critically dependent upon their ability to order from the molecular level to the macro-scale, as is true for many other materials attributes of macromolecular matter such as mechanical characteristics. Therefore, understanding of the molecular assembly process and the resulting solid-state short- and long-range order is critical to further advance the field of organic electronics. Here, we will discuss the structure development as a function of molecular weight in thin films of a model conjugated polymer, poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT), when processed from solution and the melt. While focus is on the microstructural manipulation and characterization, we also treat the influence of molecular arrangement and order on electronic processes such as charge transport and show, based on classical polymer science arguments, how accounting for the structural complexity of polymers can provide a basis for establishing relevant processing/structure/property-interrelationships to explain some of their electronic features. Such relationships can assist with the design of new materials and definition of processing protocols that account for the molecular length, chain rigidity and propensity to order of a given system.
AB - Electronic properties of organic semiconductors are often critically dependent upon their ability to order from the molecular level to the macro-scale, as is true for many other materials attributes of macromolecular matter such as mechanical characteristics. Therefore, understanding of the molecular assembly process and the resulting solid-state short- and long-range order is critical to further advance the field of organic electronics. Here, we will discuss the structure development as a function of molecular weight in thin films of a model conjugated polymer, poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT), when processed from solution and the melt. While focus is on the microstructural manipulation and characterization, we also treat the influence of molecular arrangement and order on electronic processes such as charge transport and show, based on classical polymer science arguments, how accounting for the structural complexity of polymers can provide a basis for establishing relevant processing/structure/property-interrelationships to explain some of their electronic features. Such relationships can assist with the design of new materials and definition of processing protocols that account for the molecular length, chain rigidity and propensity to order of a given system.
KW - Chain-extended crystals
KW - Charge transport
KW - Molecular weight
KW - Poly(3-hexylthiophene)
KW - Semicrystalline
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U2 - 10.1016/j.progpolymsci.2013.07.009
DO - 10.1016/j.progpolymsci.2013.07.009
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84887401041
VL - 38
SP - 1978
EP - 1989
JO - Progress in Polymer Science
JF - Progress in Polymer Science
SN - 0079-6700
IS - 12
ER -