Polydiacetylenes in Organic Semiconductors: Functional and Patternable Optoelectronic Materials for Future Electronic Devices

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Semiconducting polymers (SPs) are a fascinating class of organic materials that have led to significant discoveries in recent decades. In addition to possessing excellent charge transport properties, SPs are synthetically versatile, offering a myriad of possibilities to fine-tune their optoelectronic, thermomechanical, and solid-state properties. Despite these unique features, the application of semiconducting polymers for the fabrication of next-generation electronics has been limited. Among others, CPs have a limited stability to the complex microfabrication processes often required to fabricate advanced electronics. This severely limits the manufacturing of new electronics.To address this challenges, this research will focus on the development of a novel strategy to access photopaternable, robust and efficient SPs through the formation of polydiacetylene (PDA) crosslinks. The formation of PDA is a highly specific solid-state reaction, which can be selectively used to pattern high resolution features (few nanometers) towards the fabrication of novel electronic devices. Additionally, formation of PDA introduces potential new charge transport pathways across the polymeric network, which will enhance the optoelectronic properties of the materials. Through a unique international multidisciplinary partnership, interlacing materials chemistry, organic electronics, and materials sciences, our team will unveil the influence of PDA crosslinks on the thermomechanical and optoelectronic properties of high molecular weights SPs by a meticulous multimodal characterization strategy. Based on the new knowledge gained, our team will use the new materials to pattern thin films into nanoscopic devices, thus highlighting their potential for the fabrication of advanced organic electronics with mechanical robustness and enhanced efficiency. From a global perspective, this unique international and multidisciplinary partnership will act as a catalyst for the establishment of this new approach while providing a cutting-edge training for the next generation of highly skilled Canadian scientists.