Unraveling the Humidity Influence on the Electrical
Properties of Ionic Liquid Posttreated Poly(3,4-ethylene dioxythiophene):Poly(styrenesulfonate)
Films
posted on 2023-11-14, 17:20authored byAnna Lena Oechsle, Tobias Schöner, Christina Geiger, Suo Tu, Peixi Wang, Robert Cubitt, Peter Müller-Buschbaum
The
conductive polymer blend poly(3,4-ethylene dioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate)
(PEDOT:PSS), popular for numerous organic applications, is investigated
in terms of the influences that ionic liquid (IL) treatment and ambient
humidity have on its conductivity properties. PEDOT:PSS thin films
posttreated with different concentrations of the IL 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium
dicyanamide (EMIM DCA) are exposed to different relative humidity
(RH) steps from 0% RH up to 90% RH. Simultaneously, the film swelling
and increase in the scattering length density (SLD), indicating a
water uptake of the films, are monitored in situ with spectral reflectance (SR) and time-of-flight neutron
reflectometry (ToF-NR). Additional in situ electrochemical
impedance spectroscopy (EIS) shows that the pristine PEDOT:PSS has
only an electronic conductivity, while for the IL-treated samples,
an additional ionic conductivity contribution is observed. Upon humidity
increase, the electronic conductivity of all PEDOT:PSS thin films
decreases, while the ionic conductivity for IL posttreated thin films
is enhanced by the intake of water molecules.