Probing the Viscoelastic Property of Pseudo Free‐Standing Conjugated Polymeric Thin Films
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
7-2018
Department
Polymers and High Performance Materials
Abstract
The understanding of the structure‐mechanical property relationship for semiconducting polymers is essential for the application of flexible organic electronics. Herein pseudo free‐standing tensile testing, a technique that measures the mechanical property of thin films floating on the surface of water, is used to obtain the stress–strain behaviors of two semiconducting polymers, poly(3‐hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and poly(2,5‐bis(2‐decyltetradecyl)‐3,6‐di(thiophen‐2‐yl)diketopyrrolo[3,4‐c]pyrrole‐1,4‐dione‐alt‐thienovinylthiophene (DPP‐TVT) donor–acceptor (D–A) polymer. To our surprise, DPP‐TVT shows similar viscoelastic behavior to P3HT, despite DPP‐TVT possessing a larger conjugated backbone and much higher charge carrier mobility. The viscoelastic behavior of these polymers is due to sub room temperature glass transition temperatures (Tg), as shown by AC chip calorimetry. These results provide a comprehensive understanding of the viscoelastic properties of conjugated D–A polymers by thickness‐dependent, strain rate dependent, hysteresis tests, and stress‐relaxation tests, highlighting the importance of Tg for designing intrinsically stretchable conjugated polymers.
Publication Title
Macromolecular Rapid Communications
Volume
39
Issue
14
Recommended Citation
Zhang, S.,
Ocheje, M. U.,
Luo, S.,
Ehlenberg, D.,
Appleby, B.,
Weller, D.,
Zhou, D.,
Rondeau-Gagné, S.,
Gu, X.
(2018). Probing the Viscoelastic Property of Pseudo Free‐Standing Conjugated Polymeric Thin Films. Macromolecular Rapid Communications, 39(14).
Available at: https://aquila.usm.edu/fac_pubs/15493
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