Advance in the fabrication of ordered monolayers in semiconducting polymers

Scientists from the Institute of Physical Chemistry at the Polish Academy of Sciences, in cooperation with the Warsaw University of Technology and the Atomic Energy Commission in Grenoble, have established how thin layers of highly ordered polymers can be created, putting into place a key element in the development of production processes for organic polymer electronic systems.

Creating flexible electronic systems requires knowledge of polymer properties and the conditions in which they become self-organised. Before plastic electronics can be turned into mass market products, the rules governing the fabrication of ordered thin layers of organic semiconductors must be established.

“We have examined how the organisation of molecules changes within layers, depending on the length of molecules. Thanks to this we understand why shorter molecules form ordered two-dimensional structures, while their long analogues create chaotic aggregates. We can sometimes eliminate this last effect completely,” says Robert Nowakowski from the Microscopy and Spectroscopy Research Group of the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

The researchers say their work has great practical significance since it makes it possible to predict the behaviour of oligomers and polymers in layers, opening the way to the creation of ordered layers, an important step in the development of organic electronic devices.

References

Two-Dimensional Supramolecular Organization in Oligomers of Dialkylterthiophenes—Effect of the Alkyl Substituent Position
Jaroch, T. et al.
Journal of Physical Chemistry C (2010) 114, 13967-13974
http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jp102931b