Controllable Self-Assembly Morphologies of PPV-Based Block Copolymers

Poly(p-phenylenevinylene) (PPV) is a classic semiconducting pi-conjugated polymer with outstanding optical and electronic properties, which shows important applications in the fields of optoelectronic, such as organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), organic solar cells (OSCs), and organic field-effect transistors (OFETs). In the working process of the device, the microstate of PPV decides its property. Therefore, it is significant to achieve ordered morphologies based on PPV at micro scale. Due to the long rigid backbone and large area of delocalized electron, PPV has a strong tendency towards ordered aggregation through intermolecular pi-pi interaction, and "rod-coil" type block copolymer (BCP) based on PPV with a corona chain to improve the solubility is always built for self-assembly in situ solution. However, obtaining regular PPV based micro-/nano-structures in a controllable and uniform form remains challenging. In this review, we summarize the progresses in constructing multi-dimensional regular self-assembly morphologies based on PPV BCPs and exploring the application potential of these delicate functional nanomaterials. The molecular design strategy and growth mechanism can be extended to regulate the aggregation state of functional semiconducting conjugated polymers, which is beneficial to improving their performance in application of microelectronics, optoelectronics, biology and so on.