Assembly and Characterization of Well Defined High Molecular Weight Poly(p-phenylene) Polymer Brushes

Journal Article · Fri Dec 31 23:00:00 EST 2010 · ACS Nano

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/cm201819p· OSTI ID:1029567

Alonzo Calderon, Jose E ^[1]; Ankner, John Francis ^[1]; Britt, Phillip F ^[1]; Chen, Jihua ^[1]; Dadmun, Mark D ^[1]; Deng, Suxiang ^[1]; Hong, Kunlun ^[1]; Mays, Jimmy ^[1]; Messman, Jamie M ^[1]; Sumpter, Bobby ^[1]; Swader, Onome A ^[1]; Yu, Xiang ^[1]; Bredas, Jean-Luc E ^[1]; Malagoli, Massimo ^[1]

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1. ORNL

The assembly and characterization of well-defined, end-tethered poly(p-phenylene) (PPP) brushes having high molecular weight, low polydispersity and high 1,4-stereoregularity are presented. The PPP brushes are formed using a precursor route that relies on either self-assembly or spin coating of high molecular weight (degrees of polymerizations 54, 146, and 238) end-functionalized poly(1,3-cyclohexadiene) (PCHD) chains from benzene solutions onto silicon or quartz substrates, followed by aromatization of the end-attached PCHD chains on the surface. The approach allows the thickness (grafting density) of the brushes to be easily varied. The dry brushes before and after aromatization are characterized by ellipsometry, atomic force microscopy, grazing angle attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and UV-Vis spectroscopy. The properties of the PPP brushes are compared with those of films made using oligo-paraphenylenes and with ab initio density functional theory simulations of optical properties. Our results suggest conversion to fully aromatized, end-tethered PPP polymer brushes having effective conjugation lengths of 5 phenyl units.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL); Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences
• Sponsoring Organization: SC USDOE - Office of Science (SC)
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-00OR22725
• OSTI ID: 1029567
• Journal Information: ACS Nano, Journal Name: ACS Nano Journal Issue: 19 Vol. 23; ISSN CMATEX; ISSN 0897-4756
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
AROMATIZATION
ATOMIC FORCE MICROSCOPY
BENZENE
CHAINS
COATINGS
ELECTRONIC STRUCTURE
ELLIPSOMETRY
FUNCTIONALS
MOLECULAR WEIGHT
OPTICAL PROPERTIES
POLYMERS
PRECURSOR
QUARTZ
SILICON
SPECTROSCOPY
SPIN
SUBSTRATES
THICKNESS
THIN FILMS