Alignment of π-conjugated semi-conducting polymers : epitaxy versus mechanical rubbing

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Date 07.04.2014
Hour 13:15
Speaker Martin Brinkmann, Université de Strasbourg, France
Location
Category Conferences - Seminars
Conjugated polymers e.g. regioregular poly(3-­‐hexylthiophene)  form a remarkable class of macromolecules with fascinating electronic properties as well as structural features that make them very different from more classical and flexible polyolefins. In thin film devices, the structure and the nano-­‐morphology are two important parameters that control solid state properties such as charge transport. Due to the high anisotropy of electronic properties in conjugated polymers, it is essential to control both the crystallization and the domain orientation over large length scales in thin films. This seminar focuses on two approaches developped in our group to achieve this aim, namely epitaxial crystallization (1,2,3) and mechanical rubbing (4,5). We present various results illustrating the control over orientation and structure made possible by these two methods  and  the  peculiar  morphological  and  structural  aspects  revealed  by Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). The use of TEM is shown to shed some new light  on  the  intriguing  crystallization,  structure  and  growth  of  these  key  functional polymers.

(1) M. Brinkmann and P. Rannou, Adv. Funct. Mat., 2007,17, 101.

(2) N. Kayunkid, S. Uttiya and M. Brinkmann, Macromolecules 2010, 43, 4961.

(3) M. Brinkmann,  E. Gonthier,  S. Bogen,  K. Tremmel,  S. Ludwigs,  M. Hufnagel,  M. Sommer,  ACS Nano,
2012, 6, 10319.

(4) Hartmann, L.; Tremel, K.; Uttiya, S.; Crossland, E.; Kayunkid, N.; Ludwigs, S.; Vergnat, C.; Brinkmann, M.
Adv. Funct. Mat. 2011, 21, 4047.

(5) L. Biniek, N. Leclerc, T. Heiser, M. Brinkmann, Macromolecules 2013, 46, 4014.

Bio: Martin Brinkmann obtained his Ph. D. in physics from the University of Strasbourg in 1997.

He spent several years as a postdoctoral fellow at CNR in Bologna and the Massachussetts Institue of Technology in Cambridge (U.S.A) before moving to the Institut Charles Sadron (CNRS) in Strasbourg in 2000 as a senior scientist. He investigates fundamental aspects of organic thin film growth and structure, especially epitaxy of π-conjugated materials using Transmission Electron Microscopy

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Practical information

  • General public
  • Free

Organizer

  • IMX Seminar Series

Contact

  • ingrid.fischer@epfl.ch

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