New Tunable Thieno[3,4-b]Pyrazine-Based Materials for Photonic Applications

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This award is co-funded by the Electronic and Photonic Materials Program in the Division of Materials Research, the Organic and Macromolecular Chemistry Program in the Division of Chemistry, the Office of Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, and the Office of International Science and Engineering.Technical: This project aims to advance the understanding and design of conjugated polymeric materials with low electronic bandgaps, in particular materials based on thieno[3,4-b]pyrazines. The research activities couple development of new materials/chemical synthetic strategies to fabrication of new materials with low bandgaps, improved stability, reduced defects, and increased solubility. The research investigates the oxidative sensitivity of these materials and their basic structure-function properties. It has on the following goals: (1) Production and application of new families of functionalized thieno[3,4-b]pyrazines, acenaphtho[1,2-b]thieno[3,4-e]pyrazines, and related derivatives to new homopolymeric and alternating copolymeric materials. These species will go beyond the current simple dialkyl or diaryl species to include a wide variety of electron-donating and electron-withdrawing groups, thus allowing more extensive tuning and control of the resulting energy levels. (2) Production of new thieno[3,4-b]pyrazine-based materials with reduced defects and increased processability through the application of Grignard metathesis polymerization methods. (3) The application of new synthetic methods for the production of thieno[3,4-b]pyrazine-based terthienyls comprised of up to three unique thiophene units. The use of such low bandgap precursors will allow additional side chains to increase solubility without additional steric interactions that limit conjugation and band gap, as well as provide the ability to produce more complex three-component materials. (4) The incorporation and testing of these new materials in infrared detectors for telecommunication applications and photovoltaic devices for the development of more efficient solar cells.Non-technical: The project addresses basic scientific issues in a topical area of materials and chemical sciences with high technological relevance. The sciences involved in this research project will impact the fields of telecommunication and renewable energy. Graduate and undergraduate students will be trained in the fundamentals of chemistry, polymer science, and materials science. The activities include multi-disciplinary efforts with scientists at the University of Newcastle, Australia, as well as those at the US industry. Such an approach exposes students to a wide variety of viewpoints and experiences, from synthesis and characterization, to film formation, processing and device fabrication. This overall broad training results in the production of a highly trained, next generation of scientists ready to move forward the advances in the field and production of technological devices for the benefit of society.