Polymeric electrode modifiers
The present teachings relate to novel polymeric materials for electrode treatment. The present polymeric electrode modifiers can be derived from an episulfide monomer via either an acid-catalyzed ring-opening polymerization reaction or a nucleophilic polymerization reaction.
1. An optical, electronic, or optoelectronic device comprising one or more electrodes comprising a metal or metal alloy, the surface of at least one of said electrodes being in contact with a surface-modifying layer, said surface-modifying layer comprising a polymer comprising a repeating unit of the formula:
wherein the moiety
is a carbocyclic group having 5-20 carbon atoms, and
n is an integer ranging from 3 to 1,000 (inclusive).
2. The device of claim 1 , wherein the polymer comprises a repeating unit selected from the group consisting of:
3. The device of claim 2 , wherein the polymer is of the formula:
wherein E 1 and E 2 are identical or different end groups selected from the group consisting of H, R 1 , NH 2 , NHR 1 , N(R 1 ) 2 , SH, SR 1 , and OR 1 , wherein R 1 , at each occurrence, independently is selected from the group consisting of a C 1-10 alkyl group, a C 1-10 alkenyl group, and a phenyl group.
4. The device of claim 1 , wherein said surface-modifying layer further comprises an episulfide compound.
5. The device of claim 1 , wherein said at least one electrode comprises a metal or metal alloy selected from the group consisting of silver, gold, platinum, copper, aluminum, molybdenum, palladium, nickel, and combinations thereof.
6. The device of claim 1 configured as a thin film transistor, said thin film transistor comprising a substrate, an organic semiconductor layer, source and drain electrodes in contact with the organic semiconductor layer, a gate dielectric layer, and a gate electrode in contact with the gate dielectric layer, wherein the surfaces of the source and drain electrodes are in contact with the surface-modifying layer.
7. The device of claim 6 , wherein the organic semiconductor layer comprises an n-type organic semiconductor.
8. The device of claim 6 , wherein the thin film transistor has a top gate-bottom contact architecture.
9. A method for modifying one or more electrodes in an optical, electronic, or optoelectronic device, wherein said one or more electrodes comprise a metal or metal alloy, the method comprising:
contacting the one or more electrodes with a composition comprising a polymer comprising a repeating unit of the formula:
wherein the moiety
is a carbocyclic group having 5-20 carbon atoms, and n is an integer ranging from 3 to 1,000 (inclusive),
to form a surface-modifying layer in contact with the surfaces of the one or more electrodes.
10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the polymer comprises a repeating unit selected from the group consisting of:
11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the polymer is of the formula:
wherein E 1 and E 2 are identical or different end groups selected from the group consisting of H, R 1 , NH 2 , NHR 1 , N(R 1 ) 2 , SH, SR 1 , and OR 1 , wherein R 1 , at each occurrence, independently is selected from the group consisting of a C 1-10 alkyl group, a C 1-10 alkenyl group, and a phenyl group.
12. The method of claim 9 , wherein the composition further comprises an episulfide compound.
13. The method of claim 9 , wherein said one or more electrodes comprise a metal or metal alloy selected from the group consisting of silver, gold, platinum, copper, aluminum, molybdenum, palladium, nickel, and combinations thereof.
14. The method of claim 9 , wherein the device is a thin film transistor, said thin film transistor comprising a substrate, an organic semiconductor layer, source and drain electrodes in contact with the organic semiconductor layer, a gate dielectric layer, and a gate electrode in contact with the gate dielectric layer, and wherein the surfaces of the source and drain electrodes are in contact with the surface-modifying layer.
15. The method of claim 14 comprising forming the organic semiconductor layer prior to contacting the source and drain electrodes with the composition.
16. The method of claim 14 , wherein the composition further comprises an organic semiconducting compound.
17. The method of claim 16 , further comprising annealing the composition to form the organic semiconductor layer above the surface-modifying layer.
18. The method of claim 9 , wherein contacting is performed by immersion, spin-coating, or blade-coating.