Functional polymer materials for electronic applications

该研究计划的目标是为下一代传感器、太阳能电池和电池开发具有特定功能的聚合物，创造化学、材料科学和工程以及电气工程方面的新知识，并为可穿戴电子、物联网、人工智能和清洁能源等新兴技术培训HQP。这些目标将通过开展三个方面的研究来实现。1)开发用于有机场效应晶体管传感器的聚合物随着可穿戴电子设备、生物医学设备和物联网(IoT)的广泛采用，对轻便、灵活和低成本的传感器提出了强烈而迫切的需求。有机场效应晶体管(OFET)传感器已被广泛研究用于这些应用，但它们仍存在一定的性能问题。在这方面，我们将开发用于OFET传感器的新型聚合物半导体，以实现高灵敏度和选择性、快速的信号响应和长期稳定，这是OFET传感器实际应用的关键。2)开发用于下一代太阳能电池的聚合物有机太阳能电池具有重量轻、柔韧性好、无毒、成本低等优点，但其功率转换效率(PCE)、稳定性和可制造性仍不能满足商业需要。有机材料的高激子结合能(EB)是OSCs存在这些问题的根本原因。在这方面，我们将开发极低EB的新型聚合物，以解决现有OSCs的相关问题，从而实现新一代具有商业可行性的OSCs。3)利用具有电化学活性的有机材料开发高能量密度和稳定的有机电池聚合物，具有价格低廉、环保、灵活等优点，但仍存在比容量低、稳定性差的问题。在这一领域，将开发新的聚合物来解决这些问题。特别是，将引入扩展共轭来提高电导率，引入更高含量的氧化还原活性基团来提高比容量，并将使用强给电子和强引出取代基来提高放电电压。这些拟议的研究课题都处于探索不足或未探索的状态，具有巨大的实际应用潜力。该计划的预期成果将推动研究边界，创造新知识，并在自然科学和工程科学的众多学科中实现突破和创新，包括化学、化学工程、材料科学和工程、电气和电子工程、能源和环境。这项研究还将为加拿大学术界和工业界培养具有多学科知识和技能的多名HQP，并在这些领域发挥强大的领导作用。

The objectives of this research program are to develop polymers with specific functionalities for next-generation sensors, solar cells, and batteries, create new knowledge in chemistry, materials science and engineering, and electrical engineering, and train HQP for the emerging technologies of wearable electronics, IoT, AI, and clean energy. These objectives will be achieved by conducting research in three areas. 1) Develop polymers for organic field-effect transistor sensors With the widespread adoption of wearable electronics, biomedical devices, and the Internet of Things (IoT), there is a strong and urgent demand for lightweight, flexible, and low-cost sensors. Organic field effect transistor (OFET) sensors have been extensively studied for these applications, but they still have certain performance issues. In this area we will develop new polymer semiconductors for OFET sensors to achieve high sensitivity and selectivity, fast signal response and long-term stability, which are the key to the practical application of OFET sensors. 2) Develop polymers for next-generation solar cells Organic solar cells (OSCs) have many advantages such as light weight, good flexibility, non-toxicity, and low cost, but their power conversion efficiency (PCE), stability and manufacturability still cannot meet commercial needs. The root cause of all these problems of OSCs is the high exciton binding energy (Eb) of organic materials. In this area we will develop new polymers with extremely low Eb to solve the problems related to the current OSCs, thereby realizing a new generation of commercially viable OSCs. 3) Develop polymers for high energy density and stable organic batteries Batteries using electrochemically active organic materials are inexpensive, environmentally friendly and flexible, but still have the problems of low specific capacity and poor stability. In this area, new polymers will be developed to solve these issues. In particular, extended conjugation will be introduced to increase conductivity, a higher content of redox active groups will be incorporated to increase specific capacity, and strong electron donating and withdrawing substituents will be used to increase the discharge voltage. These proposed research topics are in an under-explored or unexplored state and have enormous potential for practical application. The expected outcome of this program will push research boundaries, create new knowledge, and achieve breakthroughs and innovations in numerous disciplines of the natural and engineering sciences, including chemistry, chemical engineering, materials science and engineering, electrical and electronic engineering, energy, and the environment. The research will also train multiple HQPs with the multidisciplinary knowledge and skills and strong leadership for Canadian academia and industry in these areas.