Controlling Molecular Orientation with Applications to Organic Electronics

Abstract

The design of organic electronic devices is heavily dependent upon the orientation of the molecular solid which influences the direction that charge carriers are able to traverse across the π-system. In this work, thin films of copper phthalocyanine (CuPc) were deposited using thermal deposition over SiO2 and CuI both substrates having demonstrated the ability to confer different orientations onto thermally evaporated CuPc. A variety of scattering and spectroscopic techniques were utilized to characterize the electronic, chemical, and crystalline structures of CuPc to determine the effects that the substrates have over these structures when the molecule's self-assembly is altered. The findings in this study will be integrated into future works as reference points and control studies in order to draw meaningful and direct connections between MPcs that have differing electron affinity, transition metal cores, and functional groups as well as multi-layers of various MPcs within unique heterojunctions.