# Automated TEM Reveals Intercrystalline Correlations of Conjugated Polymers

## TL;DR

This paper uses automated electron microscopy to study the structure of conjugated polymers, revealing how crystals align in organic electronics materials.

## Contribution

The study introduces automated HRTEM and image processing to uncover intercrystalline correlations in conjugated polymers.

## Key findings

- Analysis of over 600 HRTEM images revealed lattice parameters of the polymer.
- Neighboring crystals show preferred alignment likely due to liquid crystalline order.

## Abstract

Transmission electron
microscopy (TEM) continues to transform polymer
science by revealing key aspects of chain packing, phase separation
and nanoscale structure. The development of instrumentation and data
analyses tools is driving the field forward and enabling new experiments.
Here, we use automated high-resolution TEM (HRTEM) and image processing
to identify the structure of a conjugated polymer used in organic
electronics. Analysis of more than 600 HRTEM images reveals lattice
parameters and orientation correlations between crystals, including
the preferred alignment of neighboring crystals along the same crystallographic
direction that is likely the result of liquid crystalline order.