Abstract
The combination of vacuum electrospray deposition (ESD) and scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) is used to investigate the conformation and assembly of traditional p-type OFET materials (pBTTT and IDT-BT) and of novel fused electron-deficient rigid-rod polymers. High-resolution STM images clearly demonstrate that one of the main drivers for the polymer self-assembly is the maximization of alkyl side-chain interdigitation. Furthermore, a careful analysis of the STM data is used to establish the presence of synthetic defects in the polymer backbone, to ascertain their conformation, to infer torsional potential energies and to define the geometry of intermolecular couplings with sub-monomer resolution.
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