Exploring Disordered Morphologies of Blends and Block Copolymers for Light-Emitting Diodes with Mesoscopic Simulations

Recently, disordered blends of semiconducting and insulating polymers have been used to prepare light-emitting diodes with increased luminous efficiency. Because the thermodynamic stability of the disordered phase in blends is limited, equivalent diblock copolymers (BCPs) could be an alternative. However, the choice between disordered blends and BCPs requires understanding structural differences and their effect on charge carrier transport. Using a hybrid mesoscopic model, we simulate blends and equivalent BCPs of two representative semiconducting and insulating polymers: poly( p -phenylene vinylene) (PPV) and polyacrylate. The immiscibility is varied to mimic annealing at different temperatures. We find stable or metastable disordered morphologies until we reach the mean-field (MF) spinodal. Disordered morphologies are heterogeneous because of thermal fluctuations and local segregation. Near the MF spinodal, segregation is stronger in BCPs than in the blends, even though the immiscibility, normalized by the MF spinodal, is the same. We link the spatial distribution of PPV with electric conductance. We predict that the immiscibility (temperature at which the layer is annealed) affects electrical percolation much stronger in BCPs than in blends. Differences in the local structure and percolation between blends and BCPs are enhanced at a high insulator content.