Morphological Changes of Conjugated Polymers in Nanostructured Environments

We investigate changes in the morphology of conjugated polymers upon infiltration into nanostructured SnO₂ and ZnO and upon blending with Si nanoparticles. From optical measurements, it was found that infiltration of a phenylvinylene derivative polymer into mesoporous SnO₂ yielded an increase in the degree of disorganization of the polymer, as evidenced by a blue shift in the absorption and photoluminescence spectra, whereas infiltration of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) into an array of ZnO nanofibers yielded a small amount of disordering. Blending of Si nanoparticles into P3HT proved to be beneficial to the molecular morphology. These examples illustrate ways in which nanostructure inorganic materials can be used to influence the morphology of conjugated polymers.