Highly stretchable polymer semiconductor thin films with multi-modal energy dissipation and high relative stretchability

Hung-Chin Wu; Shayla Nikzad; Chenxin Zhu; Hongping Yan; Yang Li; Weijun Niu; James R Matthews; Jie Xu; Naoji Matsuhisa; Prajwal Kammardi Arunachala; Reza Rastak; Christian Linder; Yu-Qing Zheng; Michael F Toney; Mingqian He; Zhenan Bao

doi:10.1038/s41467-023-44099-w

Highly stretchable polymer semiconductor thin films with multi-modal energy dissipation and high relative stretchability

Nat Commun. 2023 Dec 16;14(1):8382. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-44099-w.

Authors

Hung-Chin Wu¹, Shayla Nikzad¹, Chenxin Zhu², Hongping Yan^{1

3}, Yang Li⁴, Weijun Niu⁴, James R Matthews⁴, Jie Xu^{1

5}, Naoji Matsuhisa^{1

6}, Prajwal Kammardi Arunachala⁷, Reza Rastak⁷, Christian Linder⁷, Yu-Qing Zheng¹, Michael F Toney^{3

8}, Mingqian He⁹, Zhenan Bao¹⁰

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 94305, US.
² Department of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 94305, US.
³ Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, CA, 94025, US.
⁴ Corning Incorporated, Corning, NY, 14831, US.
⁵ Nanoscience and Technology Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, IL, 60439, US.
⁶ Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo, Meguro, Tokyo, 153-8505, Japan.
⁷ Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 94305, US.
⁸ Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering and Renewable and Sustainable Energy Institute (RASEI), University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, 80309, US.
⁹ Corning Incorporated, Corning, NY, 14831, US. [email protected].
¹⁰ Department of Chemical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 94305, US. [email protected].

Abstract

Stretchable polymer semiconductors (PSCs) have seen great advancements alongside the development of soft electronics. But it remains a challenge to simultaneously achieve high charge carrier mobility and stretchability. Herein, we report the finding that stretchable PSC thin films (<100-nm-thick) with high stretchability tend to exhibit multi-modal energy dissipation mechanisms and have a large relative stretchability (rS) defined by the ratio of the entropic energy dissipation to the enthalpic energy dissipation under strain. They effectively recovered the original molecular ordering, as well as electrical performance, after strain was released. The highest rS value with a model polymer (P4) exhibited an average charge carrier mobility of 0.2 cm²V^-1s^-1 under 100% biaxial strain, while PSCs with low rS values showed irreversible morphology changes and rapid degradation of electrical performance under strain. These results suggest rS can be used as a parameter to compare the reliability and reversibility of stretchable PSC thin films.

Abstract

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