Based on the study of high-performing semi-conducting polymer thin films, we introduce here a new structural model for polymer materials: the semi-paracrystalline model. This model asserts that semi-conducting polymers are a class of materials where small paracrystalline domains coexists with more disordered regions. The assessment of structural order in semi-paracrystalline materials requires to consider not only the quality of ordering of the paracrystalline lattice (g-parameter) but also the degree of paracrystallinity (i.e., paracrystalline volume/mass fraction), which is introduced here for the first time. The new model is able to rationalize the seemingly contradictory data in the literature and allows reliable description of the solid-state microstructure of semi-conducting polymer materials. Furthermore, it allows establishing the interplay between electrical charge transport in semi-conducting polymers and the key structural features of the model
https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2022/MH/D1MH01349A