Solvent vapor annealing

Figure 7a displays a SFM phase image of a spin-coated S47H10M4382 film that has a disordered surface structure. The ordering effect of the simultaneous solvent vapor annealing and application of a voltage between the electrodes is shown in Fig. 7b. After 6.5 h of treatment the stripe pattern appears highly ordered parallel to the electric field vector. Importantly, during the swelling of the film, the polar middle PHEMA block remains anchored to the substrate. This preserves the self-assembled stripe pattern of the two major PS and PMMA blocks (Fig. 7c).

Fig. 6.17 Molecular structures of eonjugated oligomers (33) and (44), a polymer analogue (46), and a coumarin-containing polymer (45), for an evaluation of solvent-vapor annealing at room temperature...

Albert, J.N.L., Young, W.-S., Lewis, R.L., Bogart, T.D., Smith, J.R., Epps, T. Systematic study on the effect of solvent removal rate on the morphology of solvent vapor annealed ABA triblock copolymer thin films. ACS Nano 6, 459 (2012)... 

Seppala, J.E., Lewis, R.L., Epps, T.H. Spatial and orientation control of cylindrical nanostructures in ABA triblock copolymer thin films by raster solvent vapor annealing. 

S. Miller, G. Fanchini, Y. Lin, C. Li, C. Chen, W. Su, M. Chhowalla, Investigation of nanoscale morphological changes in organic photovoltaics during solvent vapor annealing, J. Mater. Chem., 18, 306-312 (2008). 

SCHEME 3.17 Chemical structure of DLC compounds aligned by dip coating and solvent vapor annealing. 

Figure 51 (a) AFM height and (b) phase images of P3HT/[60]PCBM composite processed using solvent vapor annealing. (Reproduced... 

It was possible to design some small molecular antiplasticizers that decrease compatibility between P3HT and [60]PCBM. The addition of small amounts of these compounds induces phase separation in fullerene/polymer blends and improves their photovoltaic performance without applying thermal or solvent vapor annealing. ... 

Diethyl-5,l l-bis(triethylsilylethynyl)anthradithiophene (TES-ADT-ET) was synthesized by a similar synthetic route and successfully used in bulk-heterojunction solar cells in mixture with PCBM [52]. Solvent vapor annealing of these blends leads to the formation of spherulites, which consist of a network of ADT crystallites dispersed in an amorphous matrix primarily of fullerene (Fig. 11). It was shown that the coverage of a device with spherulites directly correlates with its performance. Devices with 82% spherulite coverage reach a PCE of 1%. 

The asymmetric BTBT 46 was developed to improve the performance of the symmetric 41b [59]. Indeed, the liquid crystalline 46 showed good solubility, high stability, and a high mobility of l.lcm V s after solvent-vapor annealing. The asymmetric DAcTTs 47a-c showed mobilities of 0.25, 0.55,... 

Zoelen, W.v., Asumaa, T., Ruokolainen, J., Ikkala, O., and Brinke, G.t. (2008) Phase behavior of solvent vapor annealed thin films of PS-b-P4VP(PDP) supramolecules. Macromolecules, 41,3199-3208. 

Wang H, Liu J, Xu Y, Han Y (2013) Fibrillar morphology of derivatives of poly (3-alkylthiophene)S by solvent vapor annealing effects of conformational transition and conjugate length. J Phys Chem B 117 5996-6006... 

Sintuiel, C., Vayer, M., Mraris, M., Hillmyer, M.A. Solvent vapor annealing of block polymer thin films. Maciomolecules 46(14), 5399-5415 (2013)... 

Figure 5 (a) M-plane sapphire, (b) Sawtooth patterns from the facets of sapphire after thermal treatment, (c) Deposition of thin films of block copolymer, (d) Highly ordered cylindrical microdomains oriented normal to the surface after solvent vapor annealing, (e and f) Atomic force microscopy (AFM) images of the block copolymer surface with thickness of (e) 24 nm and (f) 34 nm on a surface with facets having pitches of 130 and lOOnm with amplitudes of 14 and lOnm. Scale bars. 200nm. 

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