Multiscale simulation framework for the electromechanical behavior of large polymer based structures on the example of PEDOT:PSS

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Abstract

The modeling and simulation process presented in this article enables the coupled consideration of mechanical and electronic properties of amorphous polymer structures based on poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) at the atomistic scale, mesoscale, and microscale. We use the density functional tight binding method, molecular dynamics simulations (MD), and the finite element method (FEM) to compute the material behavior on multiple scales. Our Python framework Multiscale Mechatronic Material Framework (M3F) is used for in-situ processing, evaluation and exchange of the generated data between the simulation methods. To describe the elastic behavior of the volume element at the microscale using FEM, we first perform compression and tension tests at the mesoscale using MD simulations. At the microscale, the Laplace equation is then solved using FEM and the spatially dependent current density is calculated as a function of the charge carrier hopping rates between the molecular units. Thus, the deformation- and location-dependent calculation of the electrical resistance at the microscale takes into account the orientations of the polymer chains. The multiscale computational process described here represents a computationally efficient evaluation of the mechanical and electronic properties and their interactions at different scales. In addition, this computational simulation framework can also be adapted for different polymers or polymer-based nanocomposites and extended to include different physical models, for example to describe charge carrier hopping or elasticity.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Article number114182
JournalComputational materials science
Volume260
Publication statusPublished - Oct 2025
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

ORCID /0000-0001-8178-1002/work/202353109
ORCID /0000-0002-6574-7848/work/211720587

Keywords

Keywords

  • Electro-mechanical, Electromechanical, Electronic, Mechanical, Multi-scale, Multiscale