Film formation of non-planar phthalocyanines on copper(I) iodide

Structural templating is frequently used in organic photovoltaic devices to control the properties of the functional layers and therefore improve efficiencies. Modification of the substrate temperatures has also been shown to impact the structure and morphology of phthalocyanine thin films. Here we combine templating by copper iodide and high substrate temperature growth and study its effect on the structure and morphology of two different non-planar phthalocyanines, chloroaluminium (ClAlPc) and vanadyl (VOPc) phthalocyanine. X-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy and low energy ion scattering show that both the morphology and the structure of the films are starkly different in every case, highlighting the versatility of phthalocyanine film growth.