Study of the Structure of Polyphthalocyanines by Transmission Electron Microscopy

Abstract

Two-dimensional polymers are highly promising materials for microsystems technologies and fundamental science. Some of the most interesting, but relatively unstudied, materials of this kind are polyphthalocyanines. These are a unique class of organometallic polymers with a two-dimensional conjugated structure and variable electronic properties. Since polyphthalocyanines of a high degree of polymerization can be obtained only as thin films and not as a bulk crystal, their study and characterization is a complicated scientific challenge. In this work we demonstrate the potential of transmission electron microscopy as a key tool in characterizing thin films. In particular, transmission-electron-microscopy data provide a basis for interpreting the Raman spectra of polyphthalocyanines, and also make possible interpretation of the crystal structure of the two-dimensional polymer.

Recent Advances in 2D Polymeric Phthalocyanines: Synthesis, Characterization, Applications and New Challenges

“…[1,15a] One more important technique widely used in their works was the UV-Visible absorption. [1] More recently, reliable experimental data became available from XRD [20] and XPS techniques, [5] as well as TEM [32] and STM [26] imaging.…”

“…Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) provides an important information on the degree of crystallinity, and therefore the polymerization degree. [11,32] TEM was the first technique that visualized the square 2D lattice of PPCs [15b] (Figure 9).…”