The role of film morphology of conjugated polymers (CPs) and their macromolecular conformation with respect to the substrate in governing charge transport and overall device performances has been a matter of debate. The nature of the macromolecular orientation of CPs in thin films has a pivotal role in controlling the performance of planar and sandwich devices. Thin-film characterizations unveiled that spin-coated films are isotropic with mixed edge-on/face-on conformation, whereas unidirectional floating film transfer method (UFTM) films are anisotropic with edge-on-oriented micrometer-sized ordered domains. To unravel the explicit role of molecular orientation on device performance, two types of devices, organic Schottky diodes (OSDs) for out-of-plane carrier transport and organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) for in-plane charge transport, were fabricated and characterized. Isotropic and relatively low crystalline spin-coated films exhibited superior transport characteristics in the out-ofplane direction than UFTM films irrespective of the crystallinity. On the other hand, edge-on-oriented UFTM thin films demonstrated remarkably enhanced in-plane charge transport with more than two orders of magnitude of enhancement in the fieldeffect mobility. The nature of molecular orientation of different films is significantly correlated with the performance of the OSDs and OFETs.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.