Self-assembly of regioregular poly (3,3′′′-didodecylquarterthiophene) in chloroform and study of its junction properties

This article deals with the study of self-assembly of regioregular poly (3,3 '''-didodecylquarterthiophene), rr-PQT-12 into fiber form in chloroform by ageing process. Time dependent fiber growth mechanism is monitored by UV-vis absorption and confirmed by atomic force microscopy technique. It is observed that isolated rr-PQT-12 undergoes self-assembled fibril growth along II-IC interaction direction and 45 min is sufficient for such assemblies in case of 0.125% w/v of rr-PQT-12 polymer in chloroform. Further the self assembled fibril polymer is used in fabrication of Schottky diode. It exhibits ten times enhancement in forward current density (with one-fold higher mobility) and high rectification ratio compared to the isolated rr-PQT-12 due to the segmental electronic traps filling within stacking region. Our study provides a facile method of ordering of PQT-12 isolated chains in chloroform solvent and an effective way for improvement of performance of organic polymers based devices through such self-assembly. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.