Self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) are molecular assemblies that spontaneously adhere to surfaces by head groups and can be functionalized at the tail end to modify the properties of that surface. For example, SAM structures can be manipulated to alter the conductivity of the surface or lead to antimicrobial activity. In this work, we are using SAMs for surface-initiated polymerization (SIP) of conjugated polymers to form conjugated polymer brush (CPB) films. In particular, we are investigating the impact of the SAM structure on the polymer growth and resulting film morphology of CPB films of polythiophene (PT) and poly(3-hexylthiophene)<br/>(P3HT) on silicon wafers, glass, and gold/chromium-plated surfaces. We will present our methodology for synthesis of functionalized SAMs, polymerization, and characterization of the resulting CPB films by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and water contact angle measurements.

Effects of self-assembled monolayer structure on conjugated polymer morphology

ACS Spring 2022

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