Molecular weight dependent structure and charge transport in MAPLE-deposited poly(3-hexylthiophene) thin films

Dong, Ban Xuan; Smith, Mitchell; Strzalka, Joseph; Li, Huanghe; McNeil, Anne J.; Stein, Gila E.; Green, Peter F.

doi:10.1002/polb.24588

Title: Molecular weight dependent structure and charge transport in MAPLE-deposited poly(3-hexylthiophene) thin films

Journal Article · Tue Feb 06 00:00:00 EST 2018 · Journal of Polymer Science. Part B, Polymer Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/polb.24588· OSTI ID:1426766

Dong, Ban Xuan ^[1]; Smith, Mitchell ^[1]; Strzalka, Joseph ^[2]; Li, Huanghe ^[1]; McNeil, Anne J. ^[1]; Stein, Gila E. ^[3]; Green, Peter F. ^[1]

Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)
Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)

In this work, poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) films prepared using the matrix-assisted pulsed laser evaporation (MAPLE) technique are shown to possess morphological structures that are dependent on molecular weight (MW). Specifically, the structures of low MW samples of MAPLE-deposited film are composed of crystallites/aggregates embedded within highly disordered environments, whereas those of high MW samples are composed of aggregated domains connected by long polymer chains. Additionally, the crystallite size along the side-chain (100) direction decreases, whereas the conjugation length increases with increasing molecular weight. This is qualitatively similar to the structure of spin-cast films, though the MAPLE-deposited films are more disordered. In-plane carrier mobilities in the MAPLE-deposited samples increase with MW, consistent with the notion that longer chains bridge adjacent aggregated domains thereby facilitating more effective charge transport. The carrier mobilities in the MAPLE-deposited simples are consistently lower than those in the solvent-cast samples for all molecular weights, consistent with the shorter conjugation length in samples prepared by this deposition technique.

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Research Organization:: Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: National Science Foundation (NSF) - Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences Division of Materials Research (MPS-DMR); USDOE Office of Science - Office of Basic Energy Sciences - Scientific User Facilities Division; Vietnam Education Foundation; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-06CH11357; AC36-08GO28308

OSTI ID:: 1426766

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1424899

Report Number(s):: NREL/JA-5A00-71050; 136666; TRN: US1802572

Journal Information:: Journal of Polymer Science. Part B, Polymer Physics, Vol. 56, Issue 8; ISSN 0887-6266

Publisher:: WileyCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 11 works

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