Mobility of Small Molecules in Solid Polymer Film for π-Stacked Crystallization

Crystallization or π-stacked aggregation of small molecules is an extensively observed phenomenon which favors charge transport along the crystal axis and is important for the design of organic optoelectronic devices. Such a process has been reported for N,N’-Bis(1-ethylpropyl)-3,4,9,10-perylenebis(dicarboximide) (EPPTC). However, the π-stacking mechanism requires solution–air or solution–solid interfaces. The crystallization or aggregation of molecules doped in solid films is generally thought to be impossible, since the solid environment surrounding the small molecules does not allow them to aggregate together into π-stacked crystals. In this work, we demonstrate that the movement of the EPPTC molecules becomes possible in a solid polymer film when it is heated to above the glass transition temperature of the polymer. Thus, crystal particles can be produced as a doped matrix in a thin solid film. The crystallization process is found to be strongly dependent on the annealing temperature and the annealing time. Both the microscopic and spectroscopic evaluations verify such discoveries and characterize the related properties of these crystals.