Efficiently tuning the electrical performance of PBTTT-C14 thin film via insitu controllable multiple precursors (Al2O3:ZnO) vapor phase infiltration

Zhen Jia; Weike Wang; Chuang Ma; Xuelian Zhang; Ruihang Yan; Jiankang Zhu

doi:10.1088/1361-6528/ad375c

Efficiently tuning the electrical performance of PBTTT-C14 thin film via insitu controllable multiple precursors (Al₂O₃:ZnO) vapor phase infiltration

Nanotechnology. 2024 Apr 10;35(26). doi: 10.1088/1361-6528/ad375c.

Authors

Zhen Jia¹, Weike Wang¹, Chuang Ma¹, Xuelian Zhang¹, Ruihang Yan¹, Jiankang Zhu²

Affiliations

¹ School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Green Preparation and Functionalization for Inorganic Material, Shaanxi University of Science & Technology, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710021, People's Republic of China.
² Guangzhou Special Pressure Equipment Inspection and Research Institute; National Graphene Product Quality Supervision and Inspection Center, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510700, People's Republic of China.

PMID: 38527361
DOI: 10.1088/1361-6528/ad375c

Abstract

Conjugated polymer-based organic/inorganic hybrid materials become the current research frontier and show great potential to integrate flexible polymers and rigid solid materials, which have been widely used in the field of various flexible electronics and optical devices. In this study, based on the multiple vapor phase infiltration (VPI) process, various precursor molecules (diethylzinc DEZ, trimethylaluminum TMA, H₂O) are applied for thein situmodification of PBTTT-C14 films. The conductivity of the PBTTT-C14/Al₂O₃:ZnO (AZO) film is significantly enhanced, and the maximum value of conductivity is 1.16 S cm^-1, which is eight orders of magnitude higher than the undoped PBTTT-C14 thin film. Here, the change of morphologies and crystalline states are analyzed via SEM, AFM, and XRD. And the chemical changes during the VPI process of PBTTT-C14 are characterized through Raman, XPS, and UV-vis. During the AZO VPI process, the formation of new ZnS matrix in the polymer subsurface can generate new additional electron conduction pathways through the crosslinking of polymer chains with inorganic materials, and the addition of Al₂O₃can bring about the increase of average grain size of ZnO crystals, which is also benefit to the conductivity increase of PBTTT-C14 thin film. Generally, the synergistic effect between the inorganic and polymer constituents results in the significantly enhancement of the conductivity of PBTTT-C14/AZO thin films.

Keywords: Al2O3:ZnO(AZO); PBTTT-C14 thin film; electrical conductivity; multiple precursors vapor phase infiltration.