Effects of Molecular Structure and Packing Order on the Stretchability of Semicrystalline Conjugated Poly(Tetrathienoacene‐diketopyrrolopyrrole) Polymers
Abstract
The design of polymer semiconductors possessing high charge transport performance, coupled with good ductility, remains a challenge. Understanding the distribution and behavior of both crystalline domains and amorphous regions in conjugated polymer films, upon an applied stress, shall provide general guiding principles to design stretchable organic semiconductors. Structure–property relationships (especially in both side chain and backbone engineering) are investigated for a series of poly(tetrathienoacene‐diketopyrrolopyrrole) polymers. It is observed that the fused thiophene diketopyrrolopyrrole‐based polymer, when incorporated with branched side chains and an additional thiophene spacer in the backbone, exhibits improved mechanical endurance and, in addition, does not show crack propagation until 40% strain. Furthermore, this polymer exhibits a hole mobility of 0.1 cm2 V−1 s−1 even at 100% strain or after recovered from strain, which reveals prominent continuity and viscoelasticity of the polymer thin film. It is also observed that the molecular packing orientations (either edge‐on or face‐on) significantly affect the mechanical compliance of the polymer films. The improved stretchability of the polymers is attributed to both the presence of soft amorphous regions and the intrinsic packing arrangement of its crystalline domains.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Dec 23, 2016
- Source ID
- 10.1002/aelm.201600311
Entities
People
- Chien Lu
- Hongping Yan
- Ho‐hsiu Chou
- James R. Matthews
- Jeffery B.‐h. Tok
- Jie Xu
- Michael F. Toney
- Mingqian He
- Weijun Niu
- Wen‐chang Chen
- Wen‐ya Lee
- Xiaodan Gu
- Yu‐cheng Chiu
- Zhenan Bao
Organizations
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- Corning Inc.
- National Science and Technology Council
- SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
- Stanford University
- United States Department of Energy
- University of Southern Mississippi