Microscopical Investigations of PEDOT:PSS Thin Films

Electron microscopy studies are used to explore the morphology of thin poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) and polystyrene sulfonate acid (PEDOT:PSS) films. The figures show that the films are composed of grains with diameters in the range of about 50 nm. Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy analysis reveals that individual grains have a PEDOT-rich core and a PSS-rich shell with a thickness of about 5–10 nm. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) is then used to analyze the topography of fracture surfaces of ruptured PEDOT:PSS tensile specimens. These AFM scans also show that the films are composed of grains dispersed in a matrix. The investigations presented herein yield a picture of PEDOT:PSS morphology with unprecedented clarity.

[1]  H. Dautzenberg.  Polyelectrolyte Complex Formation in Highly Aggregating Systems. 1. Effect of Salt: Polyelectrolyte Complex Formation in the Presence of NaCl , 1997 .

[2]  Reghu Menon,et al.  Conformational modification of conducting polymer chains by solvents: Small-angle X-ray scattering study , 2006 .

[3]  R. Friend,et al.  Morphological and electronic consequences of modifications to the polymer anode ‘PEDOT:PSS’ , 2005 .

[4]  William R. Salaneck,et al.  Conductivity, morphology, interfacial chemistry, and stability of poly(3,4‐ethylene dioxythiophene)–poly(styrene sulfonate): A photoelectron spectroscopy study , 2003 .

[5]  Yang Yang,et al.  On the mechanism of conductivity enhancement in poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate) film through solvent treatment , 2004 .

[6]  René A. J. Janssen,et al.  Microscopic Understanding of the Anisotropic Conductivity of PEDOT:PSS Thin Films , 2007 .

[7]  William J. Chancellor,et al.  Soil Physical Properties , 1994 .

[8]  M. Kemerink,et al.  Three-dimensional inhomogeneities in PEDOT:PSS Films , 2004 .

[9]  Peter Andersson,et al.  The Origin of the High Conductivity of Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)−Poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT−PSS) Plastic Electrodes , 2006 .

[10]  Jan Obrzut,et al.  Influence of a water rinse on the structure and properties of poly(3,4-ethylene dioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate) films. , 2005, Langmuir : the ACS journal of surfaces and colloids.

[11]  Cristian Ionescu-Zanetti,et al.  Semiconductive Polymer Blends: Correlating Structure with Transport Properties at the Nanoscale , 2004 .

[12]  F. Touwslager,et al.  Morphology and conductivity of PEDOT/PSS films studied by scanning-tunneling microscopy , 2004 .

[13]  W. R. Salaneck,et al.  Photoelectron spectroscopy of thin films of PEDOT-PSS conjugated polymer blend: A mini-review and some new results , 2001 .

[14]  S. Kirchmeyer,et al.  Scientific importance, properties and growing applications of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) , 2005 .

[15]  William R. Salaneck,et al.  Characterization of the PEDOT-PSS system by means of X-ray and ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy , 1999 .