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

该奖项由材料研究部的电子和光子材料项目、化学部的有机和大分子化学项目、刺激竞争性研究的实验项目办公室和国际科学与工程办公室共同资助。技术：本项目旨在促进对低电子带隙共轭聚合物材料的理解和设计，特别是基于噻吩[3,4-b]吡嗪的材料。研究活动将新材料/化学合成策略的开发与低带隙、提高稳定性、减少缺陷和增加溶解度的新材料的制造结合起来。研究了这些材料的氧化敏感性及其基本结构功能特性。主要有以下目标：(1)新系列功能化噻吩[3,4-b]吡嗪、苊[1,2-b]噻吩[3,4-e]吡嗪及其衍生物在新型均聚和交联共聚材料中的生产和应用。这些基团将超越目前简单的二烷基或二芳基基团，包括各种各样的供电子和吸电子基团，从而允许更广泛的调节和控制所产生的能级。(2)应用格氏反应聚合法制备缺陷减少、可加工性提高的新型噻吩[3,4-b]吡嗪基材料。(3)应用新的合成方法生产由三个独特的噻吩单元组成的噻吩[3,4-b]吡嗪基噻吩。使用这种低带隙前驱体将允许额外的侧链增加溶解度，而不会产生限制共轭和带隙的额外空间相互作用，并提供生产更复杂的三组分材料的能力。(4)将这些新材料纳入用于电信应用的红外探测器和用于开发更高效太阳能电池的光电器件中并进行测试。非技术：该项目涉及具有高技术相关性的材料和化学科学主题领域的基础科学问题。这项研究项目涉及的科学将影响电信和可再生能源领域。研究生和本科生将接受化学、高分子科学和材料科学基础方面的培训。这些活动包括与澳大利亚纽卡斯尔大学（University of Newcastle）以及美国工业界的科学家进行多学科合作。这种方法使学生接触到各种各样的观点和经验，从合成和表征，到薄膜形成，加工和设备制造。这种全面广泛的培训造就了训练有素的下一代科学家，他们随时准备在该领域和技术设备的生产中取得进步，造福社会。

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.