Controlling Intermolecular Interactions, Optical Property, and Charge Transport in Conjugated Polyelectrolytes for Applications in Opto-electronics Devices

Recently there has been significant interest in utilizing functional semiconductor polymers for electronic and opto-electronic devices such as Light-emitting diodes, thin film field effect transistors, solar cells, displays, and chemical and biosensors. However, better materials and further understanding of their electronic properties are critical for devices based on these materials. In this work, we use various scanning probe techniques, spectroscopy, and device fabrication to study the molecular interactions, optical and charge transport properties in conjugated polyelectrolytes. Using chemical synthesis approach, we are able to tune the molecular packing and interactions in these materials, which in turn, influence their electronic properties and device performance.