Controlling the synthesis and microstructure of non-linear pi-conjugated semiconducting polymers

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With this award, the Macromolecular, Supramolecular and Nanochemistry Program in the Chemistry Division is funding Professor Christine Luscombe at the University of Washington to synthesize new types of 'flexible plastic electronics' or molecules that are electrically conductive. These materials are currently used to produce light-emitting diodes which are incorporated into the color displays used in cell phones and televisions. Another important application is for solar cells to capture the sun's energy and convert it to electricity. Because they are flexible and lightweight, conducting organic polymers may be used to create novel 'wearable electronics'. In the future, one could envision using these materials to assemble artificial nerves or skin. To realize these and other applications, chemists must achieve better control over the structure of these molecules. This proposal enables the creation of molecular structures that have not been synthesized before and allows their properties to be explored. The proposal also allows the knowledge about how polymers work to be shared with the public through community outreach activities at the Pacific Science Center in Seattle, the Science Café (an evening lecture series held at a local pub), and through research and mentoring activities for underrepresented minorities and for women. Pi-conjugated semiconducting polymers are actively under development for use in organic light-emitting diodes and thin-film transistors. Additionally, in the past decade, there has been an exponential growth in the research on pi-conjugated semiconducting polymers for applications in organic photovoltaics (OPVs). However, due to limitations in controlling the synthesis of these polymers, the majority of studies related to these classes of materials have focused on linear polymers with broad molecular weight distributions. While it is widely recognized that, for traditional insulating coiled polymers, the topology and architecture of the polymers greatly affect their properties, a detailed structure-property relationship for how the topology of rigid rod polymers such as pi-conjugated semiconducting polymers affects the microstructure and thus their optoelectronic properties has remained limited. The Luscombe group, using their synthetic methodology, is synthesizing star and graft polymers with control over arm length and arm number. Using these star and graft polymers, network polymers are being created. Model polymers with exactly the same attributes but one are synthesized so that how changing one component (eg. arm length in a star polymer) in the polymer alters microstructure and thus optoelectronic properties can be studied. The overarching goal of this proposal is to exploit the groups ability to perform controlled polymerizations for the synthesis of semiconducting polymers, synthesize pi-conjugated polymers with unique architectures that have not been synthesized before, and build a more complete picture for structure-property relationships in this class of materials.