Thin films of polyaniline deposited by MAPLE technique

Thermal behavior and matrix-assisted pulsed laser evaporation deposition of functional polymeric materials thin films with potential use in optoelectronics

“…Although the compound itself was discovered over 150 years ago [37], only since the early 1980s it has truly captured the attention of the scientific community due to its significant electrical conductivity. Amongst the family of conducting polymers and organic semiconductors, polyaniline has many appealing processing properties, being one of the most studied conducting polymers of the past 50 years: in bulk, as thin films, or as nanostructures [13,19,[38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46]. PAni exhibits significant absorbance in the microwave range, and it is also frequently used in gas sensors because of its capability to convert chemical interactions into electrical signals [13,19,39].…”

“…The solutions were prepared by dissolving the polymers as follows: PVC in CHN, THF, MEC, or in a mixture of CHN:THF:MEC at a ratio of 1:1:1; PAA in acetone, and PAni in xylene and toluene at a ratio of 1:1. The solutions were made at different concentrations: 3 wt % for PAni [19], 1 wt% for PAA [20], and 4 wt% for PVC. Each time, 1 ml of solution was poured onto the target holder using a micropipette, and then the target holder was cooled down by gently immersing it in liquid nitrogen; reaching temperatures lower than those corresponding to the freezing point of the employed solvent(s), by at least 10-15 K, is an important condition in MAPLE [23].…”

“…In previous published studies, it was evidenced the importance of laser fluence and solvent absorption characteristics in protecting the guest molecule during the application of the MAPLE procedure [19][20][21][22][23]56]. Hence, we have processed the thin films at fluences in the range of 0.1-0.7 J cm À 2 [19,20].…”

“…Different thin film deposition and growth techniques were used, including conventional ones, such as: dip-coating, drop-casting, spin-coating, but also more sophisticated ones, such as: electron gun evaporation, plasma assisted chemical vapor deposition techniques [13,14], and laser-assisted techniques [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23]. The increasing demand for new and permanently improved electronic consumer products requires higher functionality in reduced dimensions [5].…”

CdS thin films obtained by thermal treatment of cadmium(II) complex precursor deposited by MAPLE technique

“…Such a non-destructive technique accurately solves the deposition problem of complex chemical structures (organic and bioorganic molecules, coordination compounds, polymers, etc.) [20][21][22][23][24][25].…”