Hierarchically Structured Regioregular Conjugated Polymer via Evaporative Self-Assembly

ORAL

Abstract

Regioregular conjugated polymers, poly (3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) toluene solution was confined in a sphere-on-flat geometry. The geometrically constrained P3HT solution led to the formation an axially symmetric liquid capillary bridge, from which the consecutive ``stick-slip'' motion of the contact line of the solution due to the solvent evaporation was effectively regulated. As a result, hierarchical ``snake-skin'' like structures of high regularity were yielded, namely, the microscopic structures were composed of P3HT nanofibers. This facile, \textit{one-step} technique based on evaporative self-assembly opens up a new avenue for organizing semicrystalline conjugated polymers into two-dimensional patterns in a cost-effective and nondestructive manner

*We acknowledge the supports from NSF (CBET-0730611), 3M, and the Key Laboratory of Molecular Engineering of Polymers at Fudan University, Ministry of Education, China.

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Authors

  • Myunghwan Byun

    • Iowa State University

  • Robyn Laskowski

    • Iowa State University

  • Feng Qiu

    • The Key Laboratory of Molecular Engineering of Polymers at Fudan University, Shanghai, China, 200433
    • The Key Laboratory of Molecular Engineering of Polymers at Fudan University, Shanghai, China
    • Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China

  • Malika Jeffries-EL

    • Iowa State University

  • Zhiqun Lin

    • Iowa State University