Using volatile liquid oxidant in PEDOT synthesis by oxidative Chemical Vapor Deposition (oCVD)

Conducting Polymers (CPs) are desired for next generation flexible, stretchable, wearable, and large-area electronic devices. The oxidative Chemical Vapor Deposition (oCVD) is a versatile deposition technique with the potential for commercial production of CPs in large-scale applications. Here, we report the oCVD poly(3,4-polyethylene dioxythiophene) (PEDOT) synthesis using a volatile liquid oxidant. The flow rate of volatile liquid oxidant to the oCVD reactor is more controllable than its solid oxidants counterparts, which resulted in better control of the oxidant surface concentration. In addition, the main advantage of using volatile liquid oxidant is that the final CPs thin films exploit directly in device fabrication without the need for any post-deposition rinsing step to remove unreacted oxidants and oxidation by-products. The texture and structural properties of deposited oCVD PEDOT films with volatile oxidant as a function of deposition temperature and a fraction of oxidant saturation pressure (P/P_sat) were investigated. It was noted that the orientation of oCVD PEDOT films is highly influenced by the process parameters and has a significant impact on electrical conductivity.