Revealing the Role of Polydispersity in Multilevel Assembly Structures and Its Correlation with the Mechanical and Electrical Properties of IDTBT Thin FilmsShow others and affiliations
2025 (English)In: Macromolecules, ISSN 0024-9297, E-ISSN 1520-5835Article in journal (Refereed) Epub ahead of print
Abstract [en]
Molecular weight optimization is crucial for high-performance stretchable conjugated polymer films. However, an in-depth understanding of molecular weight distribution on solution assembly, film microstructures, and electrical/mechanical properties of conjugated polymers is lacking. Herein, a model conjugated polymer, poly(indacenodithiophene-co-benzothiadiazole) (IDTBT), with a similar weight-average molecular weight but different polydispersity indexes (PDIs) of 3.2, 2.4, and 1.6 is investigated. The low-PDI polymer, containing a high content of homogeneous long chains, facilitates sufficient interchain aggregation caused by the enhanced chain entanglement and prolonged aggregation dynamics, which creates a low-crystallinity film containing long-chain well-connected aggregates and chain entanglement networks. Consequently, the charge mobility increases from 2.1 to 3.1 cm2 V-1 s-1 as PDI decreases from 3.2 to 1.6. During stretching, the polymer chains align more effectively along the strain direction in the low-PDI film, which creates more dynamic sliding sites and short-range aggregates to dissipate the strain energy. Thus, the low-PDI polymer film exhibits a high charge mobility of 1.0 +/- 0.1 cm2 V-1 s-1 at 100% strain and 0.9 +/- 0.1 cm2 V-1 s-1 after 100 cycles of stretching-releasing at 25% strain, which significantly outperforms the high-PDI film. This work demonstrates the significance of polydispersity optimization for developing mechanically robust polymer semiconductor films in stretchable electronics.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
AMER CHEMICAL SOC , 2025.
National Category
Polymer Chemistry
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-212558DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.5c00316ISI: 001443314500001Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-86000653293OAI: oai:DiVA.org:liu-212558DiVA, id: diva2:1947469
Note
Funding Agencies|National Natural Science Foundation of China [52433009]; National Natural Science Foundation of China [XDB 0520000]; Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
2025-03-262025-03-262025-03-26