CREST-Postdoctoral Research Fellowship: Chemical Doping and Halogen Bonding Studies of Conjugated Polymers for Renewable Energies

科学与技术卓越研究中心博士后研究奖学金（CREST- prf）项目支持具有重大潜力的CREST中心研究人员，并为他们提供培训和研究经验，以拓宽视野，促进跨学科互动，并使他们在科学界处于领导地位。该CREST- prf项目与诺福克州立大学CREST可再生能源和先进材料中心（CREST- cream）的研究重点保持一致。与传统的无机半导体材料相比，软质有机和聚合物半导体材料在大规模生产中具有成本低、能耗少等固有优势。然而，软质材料的电荷产生和输运机制并不十分清楚，与典型的无机半导体相比，软质材料的平均转换效率仍然相对较低。提出的研究的主要目标是使人们更好地理解软有机和聚合物材料的电荷生成、电荷传输和形态效应背后的基本科学机制和原理。这样的研究可能会带来更便宜、更轻、更灵活、生物相容性、更环保、性能更高的传统无机半导体材料和器件的替代品。这些未来的材料/设备可以为可再生能源和清洁能源技术、生物技术、医疗保健做出积极和关键的贡献，因此可以为更可持续的人口增长做出贡献。本项目的具体研究目标是系统地研究电荷掺杂对共轭聚合物或半导体聚合物的电子、光电、热电和形态性质的影响。除了传统的化学/光/电极掺杂外，一个相对新颖的概念“卤素键”掺杂也将被系统地研究和评估，作为一种低成本和方便的方法，在软有机/聚合物材料中进行工程电荷的产生、传输和形态改变。卤素键合是一种类似于氢键合的相对弱的键合模式，可用于促进聚合物自组装，以提高太阳能电池和器件的性能。最先进的技术将用于表征形态学的潜在变化，并测试由这些工程材料构建的最终设备。预期这项研究将产生广泛传播的新知识。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The Centers of Research Excellence in Science and Technology-Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (CREST-PRF) track within the CREST program supports beginning CREST Center investigators with significant potential and provides them with training and research experiences that will broaden perspectives, facilitate interdisciplinary interactions and establish them in positions of leadership within the scientific community. This CREST-PRF project is aligned with the research focus of the CREST Center for Renewable Energy and Advanced Materials (CREST-CREAM) at Norfolk State University (NSU). Compared to traditional inorganic semi-conducting materials, soft organic and polymeric semiconducting materials exhibit inherent advantages such as lower cost and less energy consumption on large scale manufacturing. However, the charge generation and transport mechanisms of soft materials are not quite clear and the conversion efficiencies of soft materials are still relatively low on average compared to typical inorganic semiconductors. The major goal of the proposed research is to enable a greater understanding of the fundamental scientific mechanisms and principles behind charge generations, charge transports, and morphological effects of soft organic and polymeric materials. Such research could lead to less expensive, lightweight, flexible, biocompatible, environmentally friendly, and higher performance alternatives to traditional inorganic semi-conducting materials and devices. These future materials/devices can contribute positively and critically to renewable and clean energy technologies, bio-technologies, health care, and therefore can contribute to a more sustainable human population growth. The specific research objective of this project is to systematically investigate the effects of charge doping on the electronic, optoelectronic, thermoelectric, and morphological properties of conjugated or semiconducting polymers. In addition to traditional chemical/photo/electrode doping, a relatively novel concept of "halogen-bonding" doping will also be systematically investigated and evaluated as an alternative low-cost and convenient method of engineering charge generation, transport and morphological changes in soft organic/polymeric materials. Halogen bonding is a relatively weak bonding mode similar to hydrogen bonding and may be used to facilitate polymer self-assembly for increased solar cell and device performance. State-of-the-art techniques will be used to characterize potential changes in morphology and to test the final devices constructed from these engineered materials. This research is expected to generate new knowledge that will be widely disseminated.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.