title: Growth Mechanism of Strain-Dependent Morphological Change in PEDOT:PSS Films.
abstract: Understanding the mechanism of the strain-dependent conductivity change in polymers in stretched conditions is important. We observed a strain-induced growth of the conductive regions of
  
  
  
  PSS films, induced by a coalescence of conductive PEDOT-rich cores. This growth due to coalescence leads to a gradual decrease in the electrical resistivity up to 95%, independent of the thickness of the
  
  
  
  PSS films. The primary mechanism for the evolution of the PEDOT-rich cores proceeds by the cores growing larger as they consuming relatively smaller cores. This process is caused by a strain-induced local rearrangement of PEDOT segments in the vicinity of PSS shells around the cores and also changes the chemical environment in PEDOT, induced by the electron-withdrawing effects around the PEDOT chains. The strain-induced growth mechanism is beneficial to understanding the phenomenon of polymeric chain rearrangement in mechanical deformation and to modulating the electrical conductivity for practical applications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-744, Korea, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Yoo-Yong
authors.initials: YY
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-744, Korea, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Gwang Mook
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-744, Korea, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Seung-Min
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.affiliation: Institute of Physics (IA), RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, 52056, Germany.
authors.forename: Ju-Young
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.affiliation: High Temperature Energy Materials Research Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), Seoul, 136-791, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: In-Suk
authors.initials: IS
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-744, Korea, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Ki Tae
authors.initials: KT
authors.lastname: Nam
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-744, Korea, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Young-Chang
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Joo