The morphology of conjugated polymer aggregates has been shown to have a profound impact on their optoelectronic properties. Poly(3-hexylthiphene) (P3HT) has been reported to be capable of self-assembling into nanowhiskers and nanofibers, which provide superior optoelectronic properties compared to its amorphous film. Our atomic force microscopy (AFM) studies on the P3HT nanowires formed in the early aggregation stage demonstrate that P3HT molecules will probably go through either packing of high-aspect ratio multi-chain/single-chain aggregates or packing of solubilized individual chain depending on experimental conditions. High-resolution AFM images also show the connecting segments between ordered domains of P3HT. Further aggregation of the P3HT nanowhiskers lead to layered nanowhisker structures with distinctive heights, indicating that the nanowhiskers aggregate via a layer-by-layer fashion in solution. The number of layers also increases over time, hinting that layered structures are more thermodynamically favored in solution. Kelvin Probe Force Microscopy (KPFM) results show that the local contact potential difference values of overlapped, triple-stacked, and deformed P3HT nanowhiskers are higher than that of straight sections.<br/>

Aggregation of conjugated polymer nanowires studied by atomic force microscopy and kelvin probe force microscopy

254th National Meeting (2017)

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