Stabilizing polythiophene (PT) semiconductors with a novel cross-linking technology

采用基于解决方案的方法制造的有机电子器件有望生产低成本，高通量，大面积和柔性衬底电子产品。然而，用基于溶液的方法制备多层聚合物薄膜对这些异质结结构的化学稳定性提出了挑战，因为使用的溶剂可能会降解现有的薄膜。在这种情况下，可以使用热固化或紫外线固化来稳定有机层。这些传统的交联方法需要添加交联剂和热处理或紫外线照射。这些过程通常会降低活性有机层的性能并消耗热预算。最近，我们用一种新型的高温氢诱导交联（HHIC）技术，通过交联碳氢主链，证明了有机层化学稳定性的改善，我是该技术的共同发明者。这种交联技术允许人们在不破坏其他键的情况下选择性地破坏C-H键，从而导致生产具有溶液处理聚合物异质结的层状有机电子器件的快速固化。

Organic electronic devices fabricated with solution-based approaches promise production of low-cost, high-throughput, large-area and on-flexible-substrate electronics. However, fabrication of multilayer polymeric films with solution-based approaches presents challenges to chemical stability of those heterojunction structures because the solvent used may degrade the existing film. In this case, thermal or UV curing may be used to stabilize the organic layers. These conventional cross-linking approaches require the addition of cross-linking agents and heat treatment or UV irradiation. These processes usually degrade performance of the active organic layer and consume thermal budget. Recently, we have demonstrated improvement in chemical stability of organic layers by cross-linking the backbone hydrocarbon chains with a novel hyperthermal hydrogen induced cross-linking (HHIC) technology, of which I am a co-inventor. This cross-linking technology allows one to selectively break C-H bonds without breaking other bonds, which leads to fast curing for the production of layered organic electronic devices having solution-processed polymeric heterojunctions.