Spatially Defined Radical-Containing Polymers for Enhanced Charge Transfer

在化学系大分子、超分子和纳米化学项目的支持下，来自德州农工大学的Emily Pentzer和Jodie Lutkenhaus将推进聚合物和粒子上可以转移电子的基团（称为“氧化还原活性基团”）的位置如何影响它们储存和产生电能的能力的基础知识。这将通过制备具有可控氧化还原活性基团间距的聚合物来实现，然后确定这些聚合物的结构如何影响它们移动电荷的能力。通过这项工作产生的先进知识可能会导致能源，电子和医疗应用的突破性进展，例如使有机聚合物取代电池的金属组件。除了科学研究外，本科生、研究生和博士后研究员将接受培训，以解决复杂问题，并成为协作STEM劳动力的富有成效的成员；将制作和分享教育视频和实践演示；高中女生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，并用于确定结构与电化学性能之间的关系。这些研究将使用一个有机氧化还原活性基团（2,2,6,6-四甲基哌啶-1-氧（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，TEMPO单元围绕聚合物主链的组织将是多种多样的；在这门课中，TEMPO单元之间的原子数将保持不变，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单元之间的间距是不同的；在这个类中，TEMPO单元之间的原子数将被改变。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；这些修饰过的颗粒将被添加到含有tempo的聚合物中。三种类型的不同结构有望改变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。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基材料中的电子和离子转移相关的知识。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。

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.