Atomic Engineering of Conjugated Polymers for High Performance Photovoltaic Cells.

技术概要。由于其独特的半导体和聚合物加工性能的组合，共轭聚合物正在学术和商业上探索用于有机电子应用。这些材料的两个重要优点是通过合成优化其光学和电子特性以用于特定应用的机会，以及通过使用溶液加工技术降低电子器件制造成本的机会。虽然已经合成了许多不同的共轭聚合物，但只有少数在有机光伏电池中表现出高效率。此外，其中许多是基于难以合成的杂环的复杂组合。该项目的愿景和目标是开发基于苯并二卤代苯的新型聚合物，苯并二卤代苯是一类杂环，包括苯并[1，2-B：4，5-b ']二噻吩，其已用于高性能有机光伏电池的共聚物中。此外，这些结构单元可以很容易地从低成本的起始材料在几个高产率的步骤中合成，并且很容易定制。该项目将（一）评估原子工程对材料特性的影响;（二）通过光谱测量和有机光伏电池的性能研究材料的物理、光学和电子特性;（iii）为本科生和研究生提供跨学科的研究经验，和（iv）通过针对各级教育中女性和代表性不足的少数民族学生的创造性外展工作，培养对聚合物科学的兴趣。合成聚合物正被广泛开发作为天然材料的替代品。虽然这些新的聚合物不能精确地复制天然材料的特性，但它们可以在原子水平上进行改性，以提供具有不同和潜在改进特性的材料。 对于电子应用，可以很容易地制备与无机基材料相媲美的半导体聚合物。此外，还可以通过化学合成来改变它们的性质，在温和的条件下制备大量材料，并使用溶液加工技术（如喷墨印刷）制造大面积薄膜。所有这些都可以显著降低聚合物基太阳能电池的成本。该奖项将（i）支持旨在增加设计和生产具有优化性能的导电聚合物用于“塑料”太阳能电池的基础知识的研究;（ii）为本科生和研究生提供跨学科研究经验;（iii）通过针对所有教育水平的女性和代表性不足的少数民族学生的创造性外联工作，培养对聚合物科学的兴趣。

TECHNICAL SUMMARY. Due to their unique combination of semiconducting and polymer processing properties, conjugated polymers are being explored both academically and commercially for use in organic electronic applications. Two important benefits of these materials are the opportunity to optimize their optical and electronic properties for specific applications through synthesis and the chance to reduce the cost of electronic device manufacturing through the use of solution processing techniques. Although a number of different conjugated polymers have been synthesized, only a few have exhibited high efficiencies in organic photovoltaic cells. Furthermore, many of these are based on complex combinations of heterocycles that are difficult to synthesize. The vision and goals of this project are to develop new polymers based on benzodichalocogenophenes, a class of heterocycles that includes benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b']dithiophene, which has been used in copolymers for high performing organic photovoltaic cells. Furthermore, these building blocks can be easily synthesized in a few high yielding steps from low-cost starting materials and are readily customized. This project will (i) evaluate the impact of atomic engineering on the materials properties; (ii) investigate the physical, optical, and electronic properties of the materials through spectroscopic measurements and performance in organic photovoltaic cells; (iii) provide interdisciplinary research experiences for both undergraduate and graduate students, and (iv) foster interest in polymer science through a creative outreach effort targeting female and underrepresented minority students at all educational levels.NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY. Synthetic polymers are being widely developed as replacements for natural materials. While these new polymers cannot precisely duplicate the properties of naturally occurring materials, they can be modified at the atomic level to afford materials with different and potentially improved properties. For electronic applications, semiconducting polymers that rival inorganic-based materials are readily prepared. Furthermore, it is possible to alter their properties through chemical synthesis, prepare a large amount of material under moderate conditions, and fabricate large-area films using solution-processing techniques such as inkjet printing. All of these can significantly reduce the cost of polymer-based solar cells. This award will (i) support research intended to increase basic knowledge for designing and producing conducting polymers with optimized properties for use in "plastic" solar cells; (ii) provide interdisciplinary research experiences for both undergraduate and graduate students, and (iii) foster interest in polymer science through a creative outreach effort targeting female and underrepresented minority students at all educational levels.