Controlling the domain size and degree of crystallization in organic films is highly important for electronic applications such as organic photovoltaics, but suitable nanoscale mapping is very difficult. Here we apply infrared-spectroscopic nano-imaging to directly determine the local crystallinity of organic thin films with 20-nm resolution. We find that state-of-the-art pentacene films (grown on SiO2 at elevated temperature) are structurally not homogeneous but exhibit two interpenetrating phases at sub-micrometre scale, documented by a shifted vibrational resonance. We observe bulk-phase nucleation of distinct ellipsoidal shape within the dominant pentacene thin-film phase and also further growth during storage. A faint topographical contrast as well as X-ray analysis corroborates our interpretation. As bulk-phase nucleation obstructs carrier percolation paths within the thin-film phase, hitherto uncontrolled structural inhomogeneity might have caused conflicting reports about pentacene carrier mobility. Infrared-spectroscopic nano-imaging of nanoscale polymorphism should have many applications ranging from organic nanocomposites to geologic minerals.
A highly-ordered 3D covalent fullerene framework is presented with a structure based on octahedrally functionalized fullerene building blocks in which every fullerene is separated from the next by six functional groups and whose mesoporosity is controlled by cooperative self-assembly with a liquid-crystalline block copolymer. The new fullerene-framework material was obtained in the form of supported films by spin coating the synthesis solution directly on glass or silicon substrates, followed by a heat treatment. The fullerene building blocks coassemble with a liquid-crystalline block copolymer to produce a highly ordered covalent fullerene framework with orthorhombic Fmmm symmetry, accessible 7.5 nm pores, and high surface area, as revealed by gas adsorption, NMR spectroscopy, small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), and TEM. We also note that the 3D covalent fullerene framework exhibits a dielectric constant significantly lower than that of the nonporous precursor material.
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