Optically anisotropic and photoconducting Langmuir-Blodgett films of neat poly(3-hexylthiophene)

Among the several types of conjugated polymers used in recent investigations, polythiophene and its derivatives have attracted considerable attention over the past 20 years due to their high mobility and other remarkable solid-state properties. They have potential applications in many fields, such as microelectronic devices, catalysts, organic field-effect transistors, chemical sensors and biosensors. There are two critical parameters that determine the polymer-based device performance: chemical structure and nanostructure of the conjugated polymer in solid state. Langmuir–Blodgett (LB) films may be an interesting alternative for producing the films used in the devices since they can be obtained with high degree of thickness control, low number of defects, and some degree of organization at the molecular scale. However, most of the polythiophene derivatives have poor film forming properties by LB method and need the use of film form aiding materials. In this work, we report on the fabrication and characterization of Langmuir and Langmuir–Blodgett films of neat poly(3-hexylthiophene). Although the LB technique is not suitable to obtain LB films with a great number of layers, good quality films, with thicknesses suitable for fabrication of opto-eletronic devices could be easily built by using the proper deposition conditions.CNPqFAPESPINEO/CNPqLNL

New records and observations on Macrolepidoptera (Insecta: Lepidoptera) from the Azores.

This paper presents a summary of butterflies and moths from Santa Maria, Faial, Pico and S. Miguel islands. Collections and/or observations were made mostly during short visits in the years 1997, 1998 and 2001. The list of records includes 40 Macrolepidoptera species, belonging to the families Pieridae, Nymphalidae, Lycaenidae, Geometridae, Sphingidae and Noctuidae. Some species are new confirmed records, for Faial (Vanessa virginiensis (Drury), Hippotion celerio (Linnaeus), Ophiusa tirhaca (Cramer), Agrotis segetum (Denis & Schiffermüller)), for Pico (Vanessa cardui (Linnaeus)) and for Ilhéu de Vila Franca do Campo (Autographa gamma (Linnaeus))

Effect of a Polymeric Protective Coating on Optical and Electrical Properties of Poly(p-phenylene vinylene) Derivatives

The resistance to photodegradation of poly[(2-methoxy-5-n-hexyloxy)-p-phenylene vinylene] (OC1OC6-PPV) films was significantly enhanced by the use of poly(vinyl alcohol) 99% hydrolyzed as protective coating. The deposition of poly(vinyl alcohol) onto OC1OC6-PPV films did not affect the absorption and the emission spectra of the luminescent polymer. The protected film showed 5% drop on the absorbance at 500 nm after 270 hours of light exposure while the unprotected film completely degraded in the same conditions. The conductivity of the protected film remained stable (around 7×10−10 S/m) while the value for the unprotected one dropped around two orders of magnitude after 100 hours of light exposure

Electrical properties of polymer/metal interface in polymer light-emitting devices: electron injection barrier suppression

The electrical characterization of a high efficient multilayer polymer light emitting diode using poly[(2-methoxy-5-hexyloxy)-p-phenylenevinylene] as the emissive layer and an anionic fluorinated surfactant as the electron transport layer was performed. For the sake of comparison, a conventional single layer device was fabricated. The density current vs. voltage measurements revealed that the conventional device has a higher threshold voltage and lower current compared to the surfactant modified device. The effective barrier height for electron injection was suppressed. The influence of the interfaces and bulk contributions to the dc and high frequencies conductivities of the devices was also discussed. (c) 2006 Springer Science + Business Media, Inc

Effect of a polymeric protective coating on optical and electrical properties of poly (p-phenylene vinylene) derivatives

The resistance to photodegradation of poly [(2-methoxy-5-n-hexyloxy)-p-phenylene vinylene] (OC1OC6-PPV) films was significantly enhanced by the use of poly(vinyl alcohol) 99% hydrolyzed as protective coating. The deposition of poly(vinyl alcohol) onto OC1OC6-PPV films did not affect the absorption and the emission spectra of the luminescent polymer. The protected film showed 5% drop on the absorbance at 500nm after 270 hours of light exposure while the unprotected film completely degraded in the same conditions. The conductivity of the protected film remained stable (around 7 × 10-10 S/m) while the value for the unprotected one dropped around two orders of magnitude after 100 hours of light exposure

Effect of ion concentration of ionomer in electron injection layer of polymer light-emitting devices

Polymer light-emitting devices (PLEDs) with poly(2-methoxy-5-hexyloxy)-p-phenylenevinylene (OC1OC6-PPV) as the emissive layer were studied with an electron injection layer of ionomers consisting of copolymers of styrene and methylmethacrylate (PS/PMMA) with 3, 6 and 8 mol% degree of sulfonation. The ionomers were able to form very thin films over the emissive layer, with less than 30 nm. Additionally, the presence of ion pairs of ionomer suppresses the tendency toward dewetting of the thin film of ionomer (similar to 10 nm) which can cause malfunction of the device. The effect of the ionomers was investigated as a function of the ion content. The devices performance, characterized by their current density and luminance intensity versus voltage, showed a remarkable increase with the ionomer layer up to 6 mol% of ionic groups, decreasing after that for the 8 mol% ionomer device. The study of the impedance spectroscopy in the frequency range from 0.1 to 10(6) Hz showed that the injection phenomena dominate over the transport in the electroluminescent polymer bulk. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Polymer light emitting devices with Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) films: Enhanced performance due to an electron-injecting layer of ionomers

Polymer light-emitting devices (PLEDs) have been produced with Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) films from poly(2-methoxy-5-hexyloxy)-p-phenylenevinylene (OC1OC6-PPV) as the emissive layer and an ionomer of a copolymer of styrene and methylmethacrylate (PS/PMMA) as an electron-injection layer. The main features of such devices are the low operating voltages, obtainable firstly due to the good quality of the ultrathin LB films that allows PLEDs to be produced reproducibly and secondly due to the improved electrical and luminance properties brought by the electron-injection layer. Also demonstrated is the superior performance of an all-LB device compared to another one produced with cast films of the same materials. Published by Elsevier B.V