Structural Model of Regioregular Poly(3-hexylthiophene) Obtained by Electron Diffraction Analysis

By N. Kayunkid, S. Uttiya, Martin Brinkmann. 2010

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This study presents a structural analysis of regioregular poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) based on electron diffraction from epitaxied thin films. Epitaxial orientation of the hexane fraction of P3HT was performed by slow rate directional solidification in 1,3,5-trichlorobenzene leading to highly oriented and crystalline P3HT films with different contact planes. Representative electron diffraction patterns corresponding to different zone axes were obtained by the rotation-tilt electron diffraction method. A trial-and-error method based on molecular modeling and calculation of the electron diffraction patterns for the different zone axes was used to determine the crystal structure of P3HT. The unit cell is monoclinic with space group P21/c and two chains per cell (a = 1.60 nm, b = 0.78 nm, c = 0.78 nm and γ = 86.5 deg). The stacking period of successive polythiophene backbones along the b axis is 0.39 nm but short interplanar distances of 0.34 nm are observed because the conjugated polythiophene backbones ar...

Subfields: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics, Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Polymers and Plastics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/bf451707fa0be49be75ad18a5923128b8d4436f2