Fabrication of poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl) films with electrospray deposition method

A solution process to obtain a thin film of organic semiconductors allows for the fabrication of low-cost electronic devices without using expensive vacuum equipment. Thus, the development of an efficient method to deposit large area and patterned thin films via a solution process is of great importance. Among various deposition methods, electrospray is a promising candidate that can be employed in the industrial field as an alternative to spin coating. In this study, we fabricated poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl) (P3HT) films using an electrospray deposition method while varying the deposition parameters. The effects of annealing, solution concentration, and acetonitrile additive on the film morphology were investigated with optical microscopy and atomic force microscopy measurement. The optoelectronic properties and the chemical states were also explored with UV-vis absorption and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurement. As a consequence, we indicated that high-quality P3HT films can be obtained through the optimization of the deposition parameters in electrospray. (C) 2018 The Japan Society of Applied Physics