Polymer Side Chain Modification Alters Phase Separation in Ferroelectric-Semiconductor Polymer Blends for Organic Memory

Side chain modification of a semiconducting polythiophene changes the resulting phase separation length scales when blended with a ferroelectric polymer for use in organic ferroelectric resistive switches. The domain size of the semiconducting portion of blends of poly­[3-(ethyl- 5-pentanoate)­thiophene-2,5-diyl] (P3EPT) and poly­(vinylidene fluoride-<i>co</i>-trifluoroethylene) (PVDF-TrFE) in thin film blends are smaller than previously reported and easily controllable in size through simple tuning of the weight fraction of the semiconducting polymer. Furthermore, P3EPT has a relatively high degree of crystallinity and bimodal crystallite orientations, as probed by wide-angle X-ray scattering. Resistive switches fabricated from blends of P3EPT and PVDF-TrFE show memristive switching behavior over a wide range of polythiophene content and good ON/OFF ratios