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A Fabrication and Measurement Method for a Flexible Ferroelectric Element Based on Van Der Waals Heteroepitaxy
Published on: April 8, 2018
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Polymer Side Chain Modification Alters Phase Separation in Ferroelectric-Semiconductor Polymer Blends for Organic
Gregory M Su1, Eunhee Lim2, Andrew R Jacobs2
1Materials Department and ‡Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California 93106, United States.
ACS Macro Letters
|May 25, 2022
Summary
Modifying semiconducting polythiophene side chains controls domain size in blends with ferroelectric polymers, enabling tunable organic ferroelectric resistive switches with good performance.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Polymer Science
- Organic Electronics
Background:
- Organic ferroelectric resistive switches are promising for next-generation electronics.
- Controlling phase separation in polymer blends is crucial for device performance.
- Polythiophene and poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-trifluoroethylene) (PVDF-TrFE) are key materials.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how side chain modification of polythiophene affects phase separation in blends with PVDF-TrFE.
- To explore the impact of these blends on the performance of organic ferroelectric resistive switches.
- To determine if domain size can be controlled via polymer weight fraction.
Main Methods:
- Thin film blend fabrication of poly[3-(ethyl- 5-pentanoate)thiophene-2,5-diyl] (P3EPT) and PVDF-TrFE.
- Wide-angle X-ray scattering (WAXS) to analyze crystallinity and crystallite orientation.
- Fabrication and characterization of resistive switches using these blends.
Main Results:
- P3EPT/PVDF-TrFE blends exhibit smaller domain sizes than previously reported.
- Domain size is controllable by adjusting the weight fraction of P3EPT.
- P3EPT shows significant crystallinity with bimodal crystallite orientations.
- Resistive switches demonstrate memristive switching behavior and good ON/OFF ratios across various blend compositions.
Conclusions:
- Side chain modification of polythiophene offers a route to control nanostructure in polymer blends.
- Tunable domain sizes in P3EPT/PVDF-TrFE blends are beneficial for organic ferroelectric resistive switches.
- These materials show potential for developing high-performance organic electronic devices.
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