Polyelectrolytes differ in chain
dynamics and equilibrium structure from neutral polymers due to the
presence of long-ranged electrostatic interactions. This manifests
as strong interactions in solutions for both synthetic and bio-polymers
as observed by aggregation and multi-mode relaxations. Describing
these relaxations requires new experimental methods to test current
theories and simulations....
Measurement of material structure supports a collaborative optoelectronic
material research effort
The discovery of electrically conducting organic crystals and polymers
has widened the range of potential optoelectronic materials, provided
they exhibit sufficiently high charge carrier mobilities and are
easy to make and process. Organic single crystals have high charge
carrier mobilities but are usually impractical because they are
difficult to process, whereas polymers have good processability
but low mobilities. Liquid crystals exhibit mobilities approaching
those of single crystals and are suitable for applications, but
demanding fabrication and processing methods limit their use. We
have shown that the self-assembly of fluorinated tapered dendrons
can drive the formation of supramolecular liquid crystals with promising
optoelectronic properties from a wide range of organic donor and
acceptor moieties....
NIST Material
Science & Engineering Laboratory - Polymers Division
