title: Monodisperse conjugated polymer particles by Suzuki-Miyaura dispersion polymerization.
abstract: The self-assembly of colloidal building blocks into complex and hierarchical structures offers a versatile and powerful toolbox for the creation of new photonic and optoelectronic materials. However, well-defined and monodisperse colloids of semiconducting polymers, which would form excellent building blocks for such self-assembled materials, are not readily available. Here we report the first demonstration of a Suzuki-Miyaura dispersion polymerization; this method produces highly monodisperse submicrometer particles of a variety of semiconducting polymers. Moreover, we show that these monodisperse particles readily self-assemble into photonic crystals that exhibit a pronounced photonic stopgap.
authors.affiliation: School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, 9 Oxford Street, 02138 Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. kuehne@dwi.rwth-aachen.de
authors.forename: Alexander J C
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Kuehne
authors.forename: Malte C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Gather
authors.forename: Joris
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sprakel
mesh_terms: D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods; D058105:Polymerization; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D011108:Polymers