Prominent processing techniques to manipulate semiconducting polymer microstructures

Abstract

Most of the technological applications that shape the development of our society and lifestyle are based on polymers. Whether we are talking about automotive and aviation industry, packaging and adhesive...

Small-Angle Neutron Scattering of P(NDI2OD-T2) Solutions: Importance of Network Structure for Data Interpretation and Film Morphology

“…Semiconducting polymers are being actively researched with potential applications in polymer solar cells, organic field-effect transistors, and organic electrochemical transistors. − The performance of organic electronics strongly depends on the multiscale morphology of polymer thin films. , As such, significant effort has been devoted to optimizing film morphology, including controlling the conformation of polymers in solution prior to deposition into thin films. − However, many studies are empirical, focusing on the correlation of the change in experimental parameters such as solvent quality and temperature of the polymer solutions with the morphology of the solid films with little focus in such studies paid to establishing the actual conformational behavior of polymers in solution. The solution-phase behavior of semiconducting polymers has mostly been characterized using optical spectroscopy techniques yielding structural information such as the degree of disorder or aggregation of the polymer chains. , While optical spectroscopy is a convenient lab-based technique, the information provided by optical techniques has limited correlation with the solid-state film morphology due to the multilength scale nature of thin film morphology.…”

Improving the hole mobility of conjugated semiconducting polymer films by fast backbone aggregation during the film formation process

“…However, the intrinsic torsion angle of the polymer chain decreased the p-conjugation of the backbone, and loose p-p stacking decreased the adjacent molecular orbital coupling, so the carrier transport along the intrachain and interchain was hindered. 9,10 To overcome this problem, various chemical and physical strategies have been proposed to tune the effective conjugated length of the backbone and promote the formation of large aggregations that contain tight interchain p-p stacking, such as molecular design, [11][12][13][14] adjustment of the molecular weight, [15][16][17] solution state regulation, [18][19][20][21] optimization of film formation methods, [22][23][24][25] and after-processing of films. 26,27 Even so, achieving excellent intrachain and interchain transport properties simultaneously in polymer films is still a challenge.…”

Self-Assembly of Block Copolymers in Thin Films Swollen-Rich in Solvent Vapors

“…In particular, the self-assembly process becomes of paramount importance when block copolymers (BCPs) are used to generate hierarchically ordered micro-and nanostructures for various technological applications [39][40][41][42], including the BCP lithography [23,39,40]. Common polymer/BCP processing methods known to manipulate and influence the self-assembly process are based on a wide range of physical and physicochemical approaches [43][44][45] and may include the utilization of space confinements [42,[46][47][48][49] and solvent vapor annealing [50][51][52][53].…”