RT info:eu-repo/semantics/article
T1 Molecular Ordering and 2D Conductivity in Ultrathin Poly(3-hexylthiophene)/Gold Nanoparticle Composite Films
A1 Ruiz Fernández, Virginia
A1 Nicholson, Patrick G.
A1 Jollands, Stuart
A1 Thomas, Pamela A.
A1 Macpherson, Julie V.
A1 Unwin, Patrick R.
K1 Electrical conductivity
K1 Layers
K1 Organic polymers
K1 Polymers
K1 Thin films
K1 Nanotecnología
K1 Nanotechnology
K1 Películas delgadas
K1 Thin films
K1 Química física
K1 Chemistry, Physical and theoretical
AB This paper reports the first comparison of the structure and electrical conductivity properties of spin cast (SC) and Langmuir−Schaeffer (LS) films of regioregular poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT). In addition, the effect of incorporating highly monodisperse Au nanoparticles (NPs), with a core diameter of ∼5 nm, into SC and LS P3HT films is described. A detailed picture of molecular organization in the films has been obtained using ultraviolet−visible absorption spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, field-emission scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and X-ray reflectivity. Film morphology was correlated with pseudo-two-dimensional conductivity measured using scanning electrochemical microscopy, with P3HT in the semiconducting regime. It was found that SC films, which were slightly thicker than those formed with the LS technique, exhibited greater organization. This resulted in an order of magnitude higher lateral conductivity for the SC films. Inclusion of Au NPs (50 wt %) into both SC and LS films resulted in the formation of uniform and relatively flat (rms roughness ∼1 nm) composite films. Surprisingly, the addition of NPs did not disrupt the characteristic crystal structure found for the native P3HT films. The effect of Au NPs on film lateral conductivity was found to be determined by the distribution of Au NPs within the polymer, which varied significantly between SC and LS films. Whereas Au NPs aggregated into hexagonally packed clusters in SC films, NPs in LS films were predominantly uniformly distributed between the lamella bilayer. It was found that, while the inclusion of Au NPs caused the lateral conductivity to decrease in SC films, in LS films, the lateral conductivity increased by a factor of 2.
PB American Chemical Society
SN 1520-6106
YR 2005
FD 2005-10
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10259/11090
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10259/11090
LA eng
NO We thank the EU Human Potential Program SUSANA (Supramolecular Self-Assembly of Interfacial Nanostructures, contract HPRN-CT-2002-00185), the EPSRC, and Avecia for funding. We are very grateful to Dr. Peter Liljeroth for the FEMLAB program, to Steve York (Department of Physics, Warwick University, U.K.) for the FE-SEM images, to Dr. Neil Wilson (Department of Physics, Warwick University, U.K.) for help with the TM-AFM images, and to Prof. Daniel Mandler (Department of Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel) and Dr. Simon Ogier (Avecia) for fruitful discussions.
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Burgos
RD 18-abr-2026