Spatially Defined Radical-Containing Polymers for Enhanced Charge Transfer

在化学系高分子、超分子和纳米化学项目的支持下，博士。德克萨斯农工大学的 Emily Pentzer 和 Jodie Lutkenhaus 将推进有关聚合物和颗粒上可转移电子的基团（称为“氧化还原活性基团”）的放置如何影响其存储和产生电能的能力的基础知识。这将通过制备氧化还原活性基团之间的间距受控的聚合物，然后确定这些聚合物的结构如何影响其移动电荷的能力来实现。通过这项工作产生的先进知识可能会为能源、电子和医疗应用带来突破性的进步，例如使有机聚合物能够取代电池的金属成分。除了科学研究之外，本科生、研究生和博士后研究员还将接受培训，以解决复杂的问题，并成为协作型 STEM 劳动力队伍中富有成效的成员；将制作并分享教育视频和实践演示；高中女性将通过美国国家工程院 EngineerGirl 网站获得指导。将合成三种不同类别的材料并用于确定结构和电化学性质之间的关系。这些研究将使用一种有机氧化还原活性基团（2,2,6,6-四甲基哌啶-1-氧基（TEMPO）），所获得的知识应适用于其他氧化还原活性单元。在第一类材料中，围绕聚合物主链的 TEMPO 单元的组织方式会有所不同；在此类中，TEMPO 单元之间的原子数量将保持相同，但它们周围的空间方向将不同。在第二类材料中，聚合物主链上的 TEMPO 单元之间的间距会有所不同；在此类中，TEMPO 单元之间的原子数将发生变化。将制备的第三类材料是用 TEMPO 基团或含有 TEMPO 基团的短聚合物链装饰的固体球形颗粒；这些装饰颗粒将被添加到含有 TEMPO 的聚合物中。这三类的不同结构预计将改变 TEMPO 单元在固体薄膜中相互作用的方式，从而改变电能的存储方式。这些材料的物理和电化学特性将被彻底表征，这项工作可能会产生关于材料结构如何与聚合物材料中电子和离子转移相关的知识。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

With the support of the Macromolecular, Supramolecular and Nanochemistry Program in the Division of Chemistry, Drs. Emily Pentzer and Jodie Lutkenhaus from Texas A&M University will advance the fundamental knowledge of how the placement of groups that can transfer electrons (dubbed “redox-active groups”) on polymers and particles impacts their ability to store and produce electrical energy. This will be accomplished by preparing polymers with controlled spacing between redox-active groups, then determining how the structure of these polymers impact their ability to move electrical charges. The advanced knowledge produced through this work may lead to ground breaking advances for energy, electronic, and medical applications, such as enabling organic polymers to replace the metal components of batteries. In addition to the scientific research, undergraduate students, graduate students, and a postdoctoral researcher will be trained to address complex problems and be productive members of a collaborative STEM workforce; educational videos and hands-on demonstrations will be produced and shared; and high school women will be mentored through the US National Academy of Engineering EngineerGirl website. Three different classes materials will be synthesized and used to identify the relationship between structure and electrochemical properties. One organic redox-active group will be used for these studies (2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl (TEMPO)), and the knowledge gained should be applicable to other redox-active units. In the first class of materials, the organization of the TEMPO units around a polymer backbone will be varied; in this class, the number of atoms between the TEMPO units will remain the same but their spatial orientation around will be different. In the second class of materials, the spacing between TEMPO units on a polymer backbone will be varied; in this class, the number of atoms between the TEMPO units will be changed. The third class of materials that will be prepared are solid spherical particles that are decorated with either TEMPO groups or short polymer chains that contain TEMPO groups; these decorated particles will be added to the TEMPO-containing polymers. The different structures of the three classes are expected to change how the TEMPO units interact with each other in a solid film, and thus how electrical energy can be stored. The physical and electrochemical properties of the materials will be thoroughly characterized and the work will likely produce knowledge on how material structure correlates to transfer of electrons and ions in polymer-based materials.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.