Unique electrical properties of self-assembled ultra-thin polymer film

The layer-by-layer self-assembly of charged polymers has recently emerged as a versatile means of processing conjugated polymers into ultra thin films with an unprecedented control over thickness and molecular architecture. To date, this method has been successfully utilized to manipulate conjugated and nonconjugated polyions, etc. Multilayer heterostructures have been designed and fabricated from various combinations of these materials to study properties unique to the specific supramolecular organizations created. In this paper, layer-by-layer self-assembly was used to fabricate extremely thin films of conducting polymers such as sulfonated polyaniline (SPAn) and poly(p-phenylene vinylene) (PPV). Finally, the fabrication of thin film light-emitting diodes based on self-assembled PPV active layers is described.