Influence of the degree of polymerization and surface curvature on the supramolecular organization of fixated polythiophenes

Abstract

Hybrid conjugated polymer (CP)/nanoparticle (NP) materials are found to be very promising materials displaying enhanced properties that exceed their individual counterparts. Those promising properties depend a lot on the organization of the CP within the hybrid material. However, not a lot is known about the supramolecular organization of CPs grafted onto NP materials. Previous research by Ceunen et al. has indicated a hampered organization, however, only small molecules grafted onto a single type on NP was studied. Additionally, new insights into the supramolecular organization of conjugated polymers (CPs) by addition of nonsolvent have demonstrated that a key step towards supramolecular organization is the formation of polymer-solvent clusters. This new information could provide a satisfactory explanation for the potentially disrupted supramolecular organization of CPs grafted onto nanoparticle surfaces as fixating the CPs prohibits the formation of these polymer-solvent clusters and thus no supramolecular organizations can be formed. In order to prove this hypothesis, an in-depth investigation concerning the supramolecular organization of grafted CPs is performed this manuscript by changing the size of the CPs and the nature and size (and thus surface curvature) of the NP material. The results indicate a strong inhibition of the supramolecular organization upon fixation of the CP polymer, which is in line with the formulated hypotheses. • Hybrid materials of nanoparticles and conjugated polymers. • Expression of chirality. • Precision synthesis.