TY - JOUR
T1 - Systematic Study on Morphological Development of Blade-Coated Conjugated Polymer Thin Films via In Situ Measurements
AU - Kim, Yeon-Ju
AU - Lee, Sehyun
AU - Niazi, Muhammad Rizwan
AU - Hwang, Kyoungtae
AU - Tang, Ming-Chun
AU - Lim, Dae-Hee
AU - Kang, Ji-Sue
AU - Smilgies, Detlef-M.
AU - Amassian, Aram
AU - Kim, Dong-Yu
N1 - KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2020-10-01
Acknowledgements: The authors would like to thank the Korea Basic Science Institute (KBSI) for AFM measurements.
PY - 2020/7/7
Y1 - 2020/7/7
N2 - The morphology of conjugated polymer thin films, determined by the kinetics of film drying, is closely correlated with their electrical properties. Herein, we focused on dramatic changes in thin film morphology of blade-coated poly{[N,N′-bis(2-octyldodecyl)-naphthalene-1,4,5,8-bis(dicarboximide)-2,6-diyl]-alt-5,5′-(2,2′-bithiophene)} caused by the effect of solvent and coating temperature. Through in situ measurements the evolution of polymer aggregates and crystallites, which plays a decisive role in the formation of the charge transporting pathway, was observed in real-time. By combining in situ ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy and in situ grazing-incidence wide-angle X-ray scattering analysis, we could identify five distinct stages during the blade-coating process; these stages were observed irrespective of the solvent and coating temperature used. The five stages are described in detail with a proposed model of film formation. This insight is an important step in understanding the relationship between the morphology of thin polymer films and their charge-transport properties as well as optimizing the structural evolution of thin films.
AB - The morphology of conjugated polymer thin films, determined by the kinetics of film drying, is closely correlated with their electrical properties. Herein, we focused on dramatic changes in thin film morphology of blade-coated poly{[N,N′-bis(2-octyldodecyl)-naphthalene-1,4,5,8-bis(dicarboximide)-2,6-diyl]-alt-5,5′-(2,2′-bithiophene)} caused by the effect of solvent and coating temperature. Through in situ measurements the evolution of polymer aggregates and crystallites, which plays a decisive role in the formation of the charge transporting pathway, was observed in real-time. By combining in situ ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy and in situ grazing-incidence wide-angle X-ray scattering analysis, we could identify five distinct stages during the blade-coating process; these stages were observed irrespective of the solvent and coating temperature used. The five stages are described in detail with a proposed model of film formation. This insight is an important step in understanding the relationship between the morphology of thin polymer films and their charge-transport properties as well as optimizing the structural evolution of thin films.
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10754/664161
UR - https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsami.0c07385
U2 - 10.1021/acsami.0c07385
DO - 10.1021/acsami.0c07385
M3 - Article
C2 - 32631042
SN - 1944-8244
JO - ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
JF - ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
ER -