Processing and device fabrication

This will require the development of innovative approaches to polymer processing and device fabrication, as discussed in Sections 7 and 8 below. 

All of the above applications of ICPs have significant commercial potential. However, in most cases, this has not been exploited due to the lack of convenient polymer processing and device fabrication protocols. For example, while polypyrroles exhibit the desirable properties mentioned above, polymerisation usually results in the formation of an insoluble, infusible material not amenable to subsequent fabrication. Conducting polyaniline and polythiophene salts are similarly intractable. Several approaches have recently been employed to overcome this problem of intractability. 

An important theme of this volume is the interrelationships among materials chemistry, photonic and optoelectronic properties, and device performance. The design and synthesis of novel polymer compositions and architectures aimed at enhanced properties are emphasized in some chapters. Other contributions feature the development of novel approaches to processing and fabrication of photonic and optoelectronic polymers into thin films, multilayers, fibers, waveguides, gratings, and device structures. These approaches, which emphasize polymer synthesis, processing, and device fabrication, are complementary and synergistic. 

The OPV device performance of all the isoindigo-based small molecules discussed in this section has been summarized (Table 5.2). While in general the solar cell performance is low compared to other small molecule systems, we have highlighted isoindigo small molecules, because their polymer-based counterparts have been shown to exhibit excellent PCE values >7% when incorporated into BHJ solar cell devices. Therefore, these results reinforce the need for further development of isoindigo-based small molecules as an organic functional material and improvements in materials processing and device fabrication. 

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