Collaborative Research: Characterization of the Microstructure and Charge Transport at Interfaces of Semiconducting Polymers

ARRA声明：该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。技术摘要：该合作项目旨在研究半导体和介电聚合物的详细界面结构。 界面相互作用对刚性棒半导体聚合物的分子有序性和电学性质的影响知之甚少。 拟议的实验将试图分解，第一次，分子组织，偶极相互作用和粗糙度的影响，在半导体聚合物的界面上的电荷传输。 实现这一目标的任务包括：（1）半导体和介电聚合物界面的受控制造，（2）其界面处的微结构的表征，以及（3）确定界面处的电子结构的电学表征。 先进的同步加速器X射线散射方法，如软X射线散射，将用于询问聚合物-聚合物界面的结构。 详细的温度依赖的薄膜晶体管的电气测量将被用来检查在半导体聚合物的电子态密度。 这一努力的成功结果将是了解如何在界面上的分子相互作用影响半导体聚合物中的载流子传输。半导体聚合物是低成本柔性电子产品的重要材料，如显示器，分布式传感器和太阳能电池。 通过这项研究获得的这些材料的详细了解将是重要的，他们未来的商业化。 拟议的合作研究是高度多学科的，将培养学生在材料科学，化学和电子学的组合。 研究生和主要研究人员将指导来自代表性不足的少数民族的暑期高中和本科生，使他们能够接触到大型同步加速器研究设施的先进研究。 有机电子技术对社会的潜力将通过当地科学之夜节目的演示来传播。 该项目还将有助于UCSB有机电子材料新的综合讲座课程序列的开发。 国际合作将通过与英国研究人员的合作来促进。

ARRA STATEMENT:This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).TECHNICAL SUMMARY:This collaborative project aims to study the detailed interfacial structure of semiconducting and dielectric polymers. The influence of interfacial interactions on the molecular ordering and the electrical properties of rigid-rod semiconducting polymers is poorly understood. The proposed experiments will attempt to disaggregate, for the first time, the impact of molecular organization, dipolar interactions, and roughness on charge transport at interfaces of semiconducting polymers. The tasks to achieve this goal include: (1) controlled fabrication of interfaces of semiconducting and dielectric polymers, (2) characterization of the microstructure at their interface, and (3) electrical characterization to determine the electronic structure at the interface. Advanced synchrotron x-ray scattering methods, such as soft x-ray scattering, will be used to interrogate the structure at polymer-polymer interfaces. Detailed temperature dependent electrical measurements on thin film transistors will be used to examine the electronic density of states in the semiconducting polymer. The successful outcome of this effort will be an understanding of how molecular interactions at interfaces affect the transport of carriers in semiconducting polymers. NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY:Semiconducting polymers are important materials for low-cost flexible electronics such as displays, distributed sensors, and solar cells. The detailed understanding of these materials gained through this research will be important for their future commercialization. The proposed collaborative research is highly multidisciplinary and will train students in a combination of materials science, chemistry, and electronics. Graduate students and the principal investigators will mentor summer high school and undergraduate students from underrepresented minorities allowing them to gain exposure to advanced research at large-scale synchrotron research facilities. The potential of organic electronics technology for society will be disseminated through demonstrations at local science night programs. This project will also aid in the development of a new integrated lecture course sequence on organic electronic materials at UCSB. International collaboration will be fostered through collaboration with researchers in the U.K.