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Electrochemically synthesized polythiophene films with self‐organized microstructure
Author(s) -
Wang XiShu,
Feng XiQiao
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
polymer engineering and science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.503
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1548-2634
pISSN - 0032-3888
DOI - 10.1002/pen.10075
Subject(s) - polythiophene , materials science , microstructure , nanowire , composite material , bending , scanning electron microscope , substrate (aquarium) , bundle , nanotechnology , conductive polymer , polymer , oceanography , geology
The microstructure of electronically conducting polythiophene (Pth) films synthesized electrochemically was studied using a scanning electron microscope. A self‐organization phenomenon was observed in the films, which grew on a substrate with periodically arrayed holes of diameter less than 100 nm. Owing to the low bending stiffness and the high cohesive energy of nanowires, they combined in a self‐assembling manner into an interesting array of bundle shapes, each bundle having about 20–100 bonded nanowires. The physical mechanism of this phenomenon is elucidated using the theory of elastic buckling.