Polyanionic, Alkylthiosulfate-Based Thiol Precursors for Conjugated Polymer Self-Assembly onto Gold and Silver

• Published in: ACS applied materials & interfaces Vol. 6; no. 14; pp. 11758 - 11765
• Main Authors: Kraft, Mario, Adamczyk, Sylwia, Polywka, Andreas, Zilberberg, Kirill, Weijtens, Christ, Meyer, Jens, Görrn, Patrick, Riedl, Thomas, Scherf, Ullrich
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Chemical Society 23.07.2014
• Subjects: Bunte salts; conjugated polymer bilayer; self-assembly; conjugated polyelectrolytes (CPE); charge injection interlayer; cross-linking
• ISSN: 1944-8244; 1944-8252
• DOI: 10.1021/am5025148

Anionic, conjugated thiophene- and fluorene-based polyelectrolytes with alkylthiosulfate side chains undergo hydrolysis under formation of alkylthiol and dialkyldisulfide functions. The hydrolysis products can be deposited onto gold or silver surfaces by self-assembly from solutions of the anionic conjugated polyelectrolyte (CPE) precursors in polar solvents such as methanol. This procedure allows solution-based surface modifications of gold and silver electrodes using environmentally friendly solvents and enables the formation of conjugated polymer bilayers. The herein presented alkyl­thiosulfate-substituted CPEs are promising candidates for increasing the work function of gold and silver electrodes thus improving hole injection from such electrode assemblies into organic semiconductors.