The structure-to-function relationship in conjugated polymers have been the subject of much scientific research; nonetheless, there are only a few reports on achieving control over the crystallinity of conjugated polymers, and the synthesis of well-defined conjugated polymers is known to be a challenging task. To address this challenge, a practical solution is to crystallize the material during polymerization. Here, we developed a method to grow the crystalline films of conjugated polymers during polymerization using our liquid-free approach, oxidative chemical vapor deposition (oCVD). We show that by adjusting the substrate structure and tailoring the surface chemistry, we can enable the crystallization of poly(3,4-ethyelenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) along the <i>c</i>-axis, for the first time. Large flakes of crystalline PEDOT, in the range of ~ 1 µm × 1 µm were grown, and the crystalline PEDOT showed enhanced properties compared to its amorphous counterpart, including 96% enhanced charge storage for crystalline material.

Crystallization of poly(3,4-ehtylenedioxythiophene) during polymerization from the vapor phase

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.