Pozzo, Lilo D.Scheiwiller, Sage2024-04-262024-04-262024-04-262024Scheiwiller_washington_0250E_26515.pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/1773/51322Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2024Conjugated polymers (CPs) are a subset of polymers with unique electronic properties and are found in the active layers of organic electronic devices, such as organic photovoltaics (OPVs), organic field-effect transistors (OFETs), organic LED’s (OLEDs), and bioelectronics. In pure forms, CPs are often brittle and prone to environmental degradation, so to improve the durability and mechanical properties of organic electronics, CPs are often blended with mechanically favorable matrix polymers. The blending process often involves the application of heat, pressure, or solvents, and these processing variables can affect how the materials interact with each other. This, in turn, can affect the properties of the final product. A fundamental understanding of the morphology of conjugated polymer blends and how processing affects them is required to develop and optimize materials. In this work, we utilize neutron and X-ray scattering techniques to determine the morphology of complex CP blends in both solution and solid states, under a variety of processing and sample conditions. We first explore a heat pressed elastomeric CP blend and determine how the phase structures of the matrix elastomer change and distort with the addition of a conjugated polymer. We also investigate how the heat pressing method, including variables such as solvent choice, pressing time, and pressing temperature, affect the structure and phases of the blended material. We continue our morphological characterization of complex blended systems with a high χ parameter copolymer and conjugated polymer in solution. This type of system has been proposed for use in Organic Mixed Ionic and Electronic Conductors (OMIECs), but a fundamental understanding of the structure of the system is required before optimization of desired properties is possible. We begin with solution-state analysis of the self-assembling high χ parameter copolymer and track the structural changes that result from polymer architecture and solvent quality. With an understanding of the structure of the matrix, we further identify how the addition of the conjugated polymer modifies the structure and extent of assembly in solution. Throughout these works, we emphasize the need to understand the morphology of complex CPs and how choices in materials and processing methods can affect the conformations of these blends.application/pdfen-USCC BY-SAConjugated Polymer BlendsMaterial CharacterizationMorphologyProcessingSmall Angle ScatteringPolymer chemistryChemical engineeringMaterials ScienceChemical engineeringThesis