Adv Polym Sci (2014) 265: 39–82
DOI: 10.1007/12_2014_288
© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014
Published online: 6 September 2014
Morphology of P3HT in Thin Films
in Relation to Optical and Electrical
Properties
Kim Tremel and Sabine Ludwigs
Abstract The search for renewable and environmentally friendly energy sources
has made organic electronics an interesting field of research. Semiconducting
polymers stand out because they offer cheap and easy processability at a largescale from solution, combined with impressive optoelectronic properties.
Polythiophenes, in particular poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT), are the most prominent and investigated representatives of semiconducting polymers and have been
applied in various devices such as solar cells and field-effect transistors. For this
class of polymers, it has been well established that the morphology of the functional
layer has a significant impact on the device performance. However, transport
bottlenecks are hard to determine due to the complex semicrystalline microstructure, which is composed of a mixture of crystalline and amorphous domains. In
order to gain a deeper understanding of the correlation between microstructure and
functional properties, precise control of nucleation and growth of semicrystalline
polymers such as P3HT is crucial. This article gives an overview of recent publications addressing the morphology and crystallization of regioregular P3HT, both
in solution and thin film, and attempts to correlate these structural features to the
functional (i.e. optical and electrical) properties of the polymer.
Keywords Absorption behavior • Charge transport • Crystallization •
Nanostructure • Ordered nanostructure • Poly(3-hexylthiophene)
K. Tremel and S. Ludwigs (*)
IPOC-Functional Polymers, Institute of Polymer Chemistry, University of Stuttgart,
Pfaffenwaldring 55, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany
e-mail: sabine.ludwigs@ipoc.uni-stuttgart.de
DOI: 10.1007/12_2014_288
© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014
Published online: 6 September 2014
Morphology of P3HT in Thin Films
in Relation to Optical and Electrical
Properties
Kim Tremel and Sabine Ludwigs
Abstract The search for renewable and environmentally friendly energy sources
has made organic electronics an interesting field of research. Semiconducting
polymers stand out because they offer cheap and easy processability at a largescale from solution, combined with impressive optoelectronic properties.
Polythiophenes, in particular poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT), are the most prominent and investigated representatives of semiconducting polymers and have been
applied in various devices such as solar cells and field-effect transistors. For this
class of polymers, it has been well established that the morphology of the functional
layer has a significant impact on the device performance. However, transport
bottlenecks are hard to determine due to the complex semicrystalline microstructure, which is composed of a mixture of crystalline and amorphous domains. In
order to gain a deeper understanding of the correlation between microstructure and
functional properties, precise control of nucleation and growth of semicrystalline
polymers such as P3HT is crucial. This article gives an overview of recent publications addressing the morphology and crystallization of regioregular P3HT, both
in solution and thin film, and attempts to correlate these structural features to the
functional (i.e. optical and electrical) properties of the polymer.
Keywords Absorption behavior • Charge transport • Crystallization •
Nanostructure • Ordered nanostructure • Poly(3-hexylthiophene)
K. Tremel and S. Ludwigs (*)
IPOC-Functional Polymers, Institute of Polymer Chemistry, University of Stuttgart,
Pfaffenwaldring 55, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany
e-mail: sabine.ludwigs@ipoc.uni-stuttgart.de