Towards stimuli responsive conjugated polymer systems

近年来，刺激响应聚合物引起了人们的极大兴趣。这种聚合物通过其物理或化学性质的相对突变来对环境的变化作出反应。聚合物材料响应一系列刺激，如温度、机械力、pH值和各种生物标志物，已被开发用于一系列应用，如传感、药物输送、选择性捕获和释放等等。最近，通过在聚合物骨架中结合几种不同的功能来开发对多种刺激有选择性反应的材料。这种材料可以实现更复杂的应用，通常被归类为智能材料。这种智能材料的一个潜在的有吸引力的途径是结合共轭聚合物的迷人的光电特性，包括高导电性、光吸收和荧光，以及可以对环境做出反应的刺激响应聚合物的那些特性。该项目的重点是通过将刺激响应聚合物接枝到共轭聚合物的骨架上，来合成和表征这些材料。

Stimuli-responsive polymers have attracted significant interest in recent years. Such polymers respond to changes in their environment by a relatively abrupt change in their physical or chemical properties. Polymeric materials responsive to a range of stimuli, such as temperature, mechanical force, pH, and various biomarkers have been developed for use in a range of applications such as sensing, drug delivery, selective capture and release and many more. More recently there has been a drive to develop materials which are selectively responsive to multiple stimuli, by combining several different functionalities within the polymer backbone. Such materials can enable more complex applications and are often classed as smart materials. One potentially attractive route to such smart materials would be to combine the fascinating optoelectronic properties of a conjugated polymer, which can include high conductivity, light absorption and fluorescence, with those of a stimuli responsive polymer which can respond to its environment. This project is focussed on the synthesis and characterisation of such materials, via the grafting of stimuli-responsive polymers to the backbone of a conjugated polymer.