Control of nanostructures of organic semiconductors by using liquid crystalline-polymer brushes

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K13712
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Polymer chemistry
• Research Institution: Chuo University
• Principal Investigator: Ikeda Tomiki 中央大学, 研究開発機構, 機構教授 (40143656)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): UBE Toru 中央大学, 研究開発機構, 機構助教 (80613364)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 液晶高分子 / ディスコチック液晶 / 有機半導体 / 有機薄膜太陽電池 / ポリマーブラシ / ペリレンジイミド

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We developed surface-grafted polymer brushes containing liquid-crystalline semiconducting moieties in side chains aiming at precise control of nanostructures in organic devices. We synthesized semiconducting monomers containing perylene diimide (PDI), phthalocyanine and oligothiophene moieties. Among them, PDI monomers showed high reactivity for forming polymer brushes through surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (SI-ATRP). The shape of the absorption spectrum of the polymer brush was similar to that of monomer, confirming the surface modification by PDI. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) images showed PDI domains with the widths in the order of ten nanometers. Furthermore, we prepared donor/acceptor heterostructures by spincoating poly(3-hexyl thiophene) (P3HT) on a PDI polymer brush film. It was confirmed that P3HT was successfully introduced into the PDI polymer brush film, thanks to the insolubility of surface-initiated polymer brushes.

Free Research Field

高分子化学・材料化学・光化学