CAREER: Rational Design of Semiconducting Polymers with Tunable Opto-Electronic Properties: An Interdisciplinary Program for Research and Education

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TECHNICAL SUMMARY:This CAREER grant will allow the PI to launch an interdisciplinary research and education program at the interface between organic/polymer chemistry, materials science and semiconductor technologies. The overall objective of the proposed research is to establish a synthetic design protocol to generate semiconducting polymers with tunable structures and electronic properties. Benzodithiophene with phenylethynyl substituents and thienodipyrrole will be employed as building blocks for the synthesis of novel semiconducting polymers with tunable energy levels. Benzodithiophene monomers with phenylethynyl electron withdrawing substituents render the polymers a lower LUMO energy level. By contrast, thienodipyrrole monomers with increased donor ability will generate semiconducting polymers with a higher LUMO energy level. Intermediate energy levels can be obtained by copolymerization of monomers. The proposed 5-years research program targets the synthesis of the proposed monomers and their corresponding polymers, structural, morphological and opto-electronic characterization, and the testing of the materials in bulk heterojunction solar cells. The experimental data obtained from solar cell testing will be used to fine tune the structures of the monomers and semiconducting polymers. The research program will have an application driven approach, where students will gain expertise in organic/polymer synthesis, characterization, and semiconductor technologies. The PI will capitalize on prior experience in polymer science and organic electronics, but also expand skills in fabrication and testing of solar cells. The PI?s research program will naturally expand into its education component by training graduate and undergraduate students who will develop skills in synthetic chemistry and solar cell fabrication and testing. NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARYThe pending global energy crisis requires the development of new technologies that exploit the potential of renewable energy sources, such as solar power. For example, inorganic semiconductor based photovoltaic technology has reached the performance of converting 30% of solar energy into electric power. Despite this good performance, inorganic photovoltaics based on existing crystalline silicon technology are still too expensive to compete with the conventional sources of electricity. While extensive research in the field of silicon-based, inorganic photovoltaics is expected to result in a decrease in their fabrication cost, organic photovoltaics developed by the PI?s group are viable alternatives for low cost, lightweight, large area and flexible solar panels. The proposed research will aim toward the production of novel organic semiconducting polymers with high performance in organic solar cells. This CAREER award will support the interdisciplinary training of graduate and undergraduate students at the interface between chemistry and materials science. The PI will work closely with the Chemistry Students Association at the University of Texas at Dallas to design workshop experiments using polymers. These workshops will be presented in science fairs in the DFW area. The PI is also participating in the highly successful Nanoexplorers Program at UTD which gives high-school students the opportunity to participate in summer research.