Look fast: Crystallization of conjugated molecules during solution shearing probed in-situ and in real time by X-ray scattering.

High-speed solution shearing, in which a drop of dissolved material is spread by a coating knife onto the substrate, has emerged as a versatile, yet simple coating technique to prepare high-mobility organic thin film transistors. Solution shearing and subsequent drying and crystallization of a thin film of conjugated molecules is probed in situ using microbeam grazing incidence wide-angle X-ray scattering (μGIWAXS). We demonstrate the advantages of this approach to study solution based crystal nucleation and growth, and identify casting parameter combinations to cast highly ordered and laterally aligned molecular thin films. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]