Controlled growth mechanism of poly (3-hexylthiophene) nanowires

Abstract

WOS: 000386132600003 ; PubMed ID: 27727143 ; Synthesis of 1D-polymer nanowires by a self-assembly method using marginal solvents is an attractive technique. While the formation mechanism is poorly understood, this method is essential in order to control the growth of nanowires. Here we visualized the time-dependent assembly of poly (3-hexyl-thiophene-2,5-diyl) (P3HT) nanowires by atomic force microscopy and scanning tunneling microscopy. The assembly of P3HT nanowires was carried out at room temperature by mixing cyclohexanone (CHN), as a poor solvent, with polymer solution in 1,2-dichlorobenzene (DCB). Both pi-pi stacking and planarization, obtained at the mix volume ratio of P3HT (in DCB):CHN (10:7), were considered during the investigation. We find that the length of nanowires was determined by the ordering of polymers in the polymer repetition direction. Additionally, our density functional theory calculations revealed that the presence of DCB and CHN molecules that stabilize the structural distortions due to tail group of polymers was essential for the core-wire formation. ; Flemish Science Foundation (FWO-Vl)FWO; Methusalem foundation of the Flemish government; Hercules Foundation; FWO Pegasus-Long Marie Curie Fellowship; TUBITAKTurkiye Bilimsel ve Teknolojik Arastirma Kurumu (TUBITAK) [114F397]; Scientific Research Project Fund of Ege University [12GEE011] ; This work was supported by the Flemish Science Foundation (FWO-Vl) and the Methusalem foundation of the Flemish government. Computational resources were provided by TUBITAK ULAKBIM, the High Performance and Grid Computing Center (TR-Grid e-Infrastructure), and the HPC infrastructure of the University of Antwerp (CalcUA), a division of the Flemish Supercomputer Center (VSC), which is funded by the Hercules Foundation. HS is supported by a FWO Pegasus-Long Marie Curie Fellowship. HS and RTS acknowledge support from TUBITAK through Project No. 114F397. Also, DA is supported by the Scientific Research Project Fund of Ege University (Project Nr: 12GEE011).