Transforming Polymorphs via Meniscus-Assisted Solution-Shearing Conjugated Polymers for Organic Field-Effect...

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Polymer Science
• Organic Electronics

Background:

• Tuning polymer polymorphs is crucial for understanding structure-property relationships in conjugated polymers.
• Existing methods for controlling polymorphs are often not generalizable or straightforward.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a simple and generalizable method for controlling conjugated polymer polymorphs.
• To investigate the impact of different polymorphs on charge transport properties.
• To establish a correlation between processing, structure, and properties.

Main Methods:

• Meniscus-assisted solution-shearing (MASS) technique applied to poly(3-butylthiophene) (P3BT).
• Analysis of polymorph transformation (II to I) induced by confined shearing.
• Characterization of molecular packing, photophysical properties, and charge transport.

Main Results:

• MASS effectively modulates P3BT polymorphs (I and II).
• Polymorph II transforms to polymorph I under confined shearing.
• Device performance in organic field-effect transistors strongly correlates with attained polymorphs and crystal orientations.

Conclusions:

• The MASS technique provides a robust platform for regulating polymorphs in conjugated polymers.
• This method facilitates the investigation of processing-structure-property relationships.
• The findings are applicable to various conjugated polymers for optoelectronic applications.