Impact of Local Stiffness on Entropy Driven Microscopic Dynamics of Polythiophene.

ABSTRACT: We exploited the high temporal and spatial resolution of neutron spin echo spectroscopy to investigate the large-scale dynamics of semiflexible conjugated polymer chains in solutions. We used a generalized approach of the well-established Zimm model of flexible polymers to describe the relaxation mode spectra of locally stiff polythiophene chains. The Zimm mode analysis confirms the existence of beads with a finite length that corresponds to a reduced number of segmental modes in semiflexible chains. Irrespective of the temperature and the molecular weight of the conjugated polymer, we witness a universal behavior of the local chain stiffness and invariability of the bead length. Our experimental findings indicate possibly minor role of the change in π-electron conjugation length (and ther

SUBMITTER: Gupta S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7305133 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature