Growth of Highly Oriented Ultrathin Crystalline Organic Microstripes: Effect of Alkyl Chain Length

Langmuir. 2016 Sep 13;32(36):9109-17. doi: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.6b01349. Epub 2016 Aug 30.

Abstract

The growth of organic semiconductor with controllable morphology is a crucial issue for achieving high-performance devices. Here we present the systematic study of the effect of the alkyl chain attached to the functional entity on controlling the growth of oriented microcrystals by dip-coating. Alkylated DTBDT-based molecules with variable chain lengths from n-butyl to n-dodecyl formed into one-dimensional micro- or nanostripe crystals at different pulling speeds. The alignment and ordering are significantly varied with alkyl chain length, as is the transistor performance. Highly uniform oriented and higher-molecular-order crystalline stripes with improved field-effect mobility can be achieved with an alkyl-chain length of around 6. We attribute this effect to the alkyl-chain-length-dependent packing, solubility, and self-assembly behavior.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't