Micro- and nano-structured functional materials by polymer- aided self-assembly

Abstract

Co-operative electronic couplings and interactions between conjugated polymers are influenced significantly by the chemical structure and aggregation in condensed medium. Structuring of conjugated polymers are therefore of critical importance in many applications. The current research is focused on the exploration of structure-property relationship of micro- and nano-structured conjugated polymer and conjugated polymer-nanoparticle hybrid thin films. Towards this, large area, highly periodical, porous, light-emitting thin films were developed using a custom-designed conjugated polymers. The polymers were designed by tailoring optimum functional groups to highly rigid rod amphiphilic poly(p-phenylene)s (PPPs). The self-organization of polymers were used to prepare hybrid nano-materials. Properties of the hybrid micro-nano composites were fine-tuned via controlling the composition and functional groups at the surface of the nanoparticles. Using the unique properties of our custom-designed conjugated PPP, a few interesting thin films and nanohybrid materials were generated.