title: Structure of self-assembled multilayers prepared from water-soluble polythiophenes.
abstract: We have studied the structure and morphology of self-assembled polyelectrolyte multilayers prepared using poly(styrenesulfonate) (PSS) and four different cationic poly(alkoxythiophene) derivatives bearing methylimidazolium-terminated ionic side chain at the 3-position of the thiophene ring: poly(1-methyl-3-[3-[3-thienyloxy]-propyl]-1H-imidazolium) (P3TOPIM), poly(1-methyl-3-[6-[3-thienyloxy]-hexyl]-1H-imidazolium) (P3TOHIM), poly(1-methyl-3-[2-[(4-methyl-3-thienyl)oxy]-ethyl]-1H-imidazolium ) (P4Me-3TOEIM), and poly(1-methyl-3-[6-[(4-methyl-3-thienyl)oxy]-hexyl]-1H-imidazolium ) (P4Me-3TOHIM). All the multilayers exhibited regular growth. The thickness of the multilayers was measured with ellipsometry, their layer-by-layer growth was followed by polarization modulation infrared reflection-absorption spectroscopy (PM-IRRAS) and ellipsometry, and the morphology of the films was studied by atomic force microscopy (AFM). The length of the methylimidazolium-terminated side chain (C(n), n = 2, 3, 6) and the substituent (H or Me) at the 4-position of the thiophene ring were varied. All multilayers were inhomogeneous in the sub-micrometer scale and contained aggregates of two kinds. The large ones with a low and constant surface number density were attributed to PSS, whereas the small aggregates were polythiophene-based. The surface density of these organic semiconducting nanoparticles greatly depended on the structure of polythiophene, being favored by polymer regioregularity and the length of the side chain. The side chains remained disordered in all the multilayers, but with polythiophenes having hexyl chains both the imidazolium and thiophene rings tended to orient themselves more perpendicular to the surface than in films containing shorter chains (C2 or C3). The relative water content of the multilayers (at 7.1% relative humidity) did not depend on the film thickness and was the lowest for P4Me-3TOHIM. As the number of bilayers increased the methylimidazolium-sulfonate ion pairs gradually weakened and became more individually hydrated.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Turku, FIN-20014 Turku, Finland. antti.viinikanoja@utu.fi
authors.forename: Antti
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Viinikanoja
authors.forename: Sami
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Areva
authors.forename: Natalia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kocharova
authors.forename: Timo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Aäritalo
authors.forename: Maarit
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vuorinen
authors.forename: Arto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Savunen
authors.forename: Jouko
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kankare
authors.forename: Jukka
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lukkari