Estimation of Material Efficiency in Electrophoretic Deposition of Conjugated Polymer from Optical Absorption of Residual Suspension

摘要

The nanoporosity installed in conjugated polymer films prepared by electrophoretic deposition makes it difficult to measure the amount of polymer deposited on a substrate. Here, an alternative approach, the estimation of material efficiency of the electrophoretic deposition from the optical absorption spectra of the residual suspensions has been studied. The ultimate recovery rate, which becomes smaller in suspensions with lower acetonitrile content, does not depend on the deposition voltage. The light scattering by the colloidal particles seems to be absent in residual suspensions after a deposition long enough to reach the ultimate recovery rate, indicating the exhaustion of the colloidal particles. Although the deposition rate of the polymer markedly lowers upon coating of the deposition electrode with PEDOT, the ultimate recovery rate remains unchanged. These results suggest that the material efficiency in this deposition method is limited by the generation rate of the colloidal particles in the suspension.