Investigation of the Effect of Thermal Annealing on Poly(3-hexylthiophene) Nanofibers by Scanning Probe Microscopy: From Single-Chain Conformation and Assembly Behavior to the Interfacial Interactions with Graphene Oxide

Abstract

Poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) has been widely used in devices owing to its excellent properties and structural features. However, devices based on pure P3HT have not exhibited high performance. Strategies, such as thermal annealing and surface doping, have been used to improve the electrical properties of P3HT. In this work, different from previous studies, the effect of thermal annealing on P3HT nanofibers are examined, ranging from the single polymer chain conformation to chain packing, and the interfacial interactions with graphene oxide (GO) at nanoscale dimensions, by using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM). High-resolution STM images directly show the conformational changes of single polymer chains after thermal annealing. The morphology of P3HT nanofibers and the surface potential changes of the P3HT nanofibers and GO is further investigated by AFM and KPFM at the nanoscale, which demonstrate that the surface potentials of P3HT decrease, whereas that of GO increases after thermal annealing. All of the results demonstrate the stronger interfacial interactions between P3HT and GO occur after thermal treatments due to the changes in P3HT chain conformation and packing order.

Keywords: atomic force microscopy; graphene oxide; poly(3-hexylthiophene); scanning tunneling microscopy; thermal annealing.