Control over phase behavior and solution structure of hairy-rod polyfluorene by means of side-chain length and branching

We present guidelines on how the solution structure of pi-conjugated hairy-rod polyfluorenes is controlled by the side-chain length and branching. First, the semiquantitative mean-field theory is formulated to predict the phase behavior of the system as a function of side-chain beads (N). The phase transition at N=N* separates a lyotropic phase with solvent coexistence (N N*). The membrane phase transforms into the isotropic phase of dissolved rodlike polymers at the temperature T-mem*(N), which decreases both with N and with the degree of side-chain branching. This picture is complemented by polymer demixing with the transition temperature T-IN*(N), which decreases with N. For N N*, stable membranes are predicted for T-IN* N*. T-mem*(N) decreases from 340 K to 280 K for N >= 8. For copolymers, the membrane phase is found when the fraction of F8 units is at least 90%, T-mem* decreasing with this fraction. The membrane phase contains three material types: loose sheets of two polymer layers, a better packed beta phase, and dissolved polymer. For N >= 7 and T < T-mem* the tendency for membrane formation becomes stronger with increasing temperature