Natalie Stingelin-Stutzmann: "Bringing semiconducting polymers to order"

Dr. Natalie Stingelin-Stutzmann
Imperial College, London, UK

Bringing semiconducting polymers to order
The importance of the influence of molecular order on physical characteristics of polymeric materials cannot be overstated. In the past, the correlation between structure and properties has been well established for, e.g., stiffness and strength, which led to the production of ultra-high-performance fibers; and with respect to optical properties, applications were found in, among other things, efficient polarizers. In this presentation, routes to increased molecular order will be discussed and applied to semiconducting polymers, which currently are explored for use in “plastic electronic” components such as field-effect transistors and photovoltaic cells.