Molecular Engineering of Semiconducting Polymers for Emerging Organic Electronics

半导体聚合物（SP）是一类迷人的有机材料，近几十年来已经导致了重大发现。除了具有优异的电荷传输特性外，SP还具有合成通用性，提供了无数的可能性来微调其光电，热机械和固态特性。尽管有这些独特的特征，但半导体聚合物在下一代电子产品制造中的应用受到限制，主要是由于它们的半结晶性质限制了分子的拉伸性和在常见有机溶剂中的溶解度。因此，常见的高性能SP通常具有高杨氏模量和在常见有机溶剂中的低溶解度。在上一个融资周期中，我们的团队利用创新方法制备和设计了新型先进的半导体聚合物，并在有机电子领域建立了新的结构-性能关系。然而，我们迄今为止所取得的进展和所揭示的重要发现只是冰山一角。该研究计划的长期目标是为具有创新特性的先进半导体聚合物开发材料设计“工具箱”，如拉伸性，自修复和绿色加工性，使这些新材料适用于可拉伸（生物）电子产品的制造。这些工具还将提供超越传统有机电子的新特性和功能。为了实现这一目标，将研究三个主要主题。该研究计划的第一部分将专注于自修复半导体共价自适应网络的制备，第二部分将致力于可降解和绿色SP的设计和制备，最后一部分将开发一种新的策略，通过形成聚二乙炔来获得高性能SP。高性能SP的热机械性能、溶解性和加工方法在文献中经常未被充分探索，使得建立可以改善/实现这些性能的合理设计策略变得更加重要。在整个研究计划中，新材料将通过无数的多峰表征技术进行评估，以充分揭示和访问先进半导体中新的结构-性能关系。最后，通过该研究计划开发的新材料和设计将通过制造有机场效应晶体管应用于电子器件，从而将分子设计和材料特性与有机电子性能直接联系起来。随着有机电子的兴起，这一研究计划的及时和重要目标的实现不仅改变了SP和有机电子的当前设计范式，而且还将为下一代高技能的加拿大科学家提供尖端培训。

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, largely due to their semicrystalline nature that limits molecular stretchability and solubility in common organic solvents. Therefore, common high-performance SPs generally possess high Young's modulus and low solubility in common organic solvents. Over the last funding cycle, our group has utilized innovative approaches to prepare and design new advanced semiconducting polymers, and has moved toward the establishment of new structure-property relationships in organic electronics. Our progress and the important findings revealed so far, however, are only the tip of the iceberg. The long-term objective of this research program is to develop a materials design "toolbox" for advanced semiconducting polymers with innovative properties, such as stretchability, self-healing and green processability, allowing for these new materials to become applicable for the fabrication of stretchable (bio)electronics. These tools will also provide new properties and functions for going beyond traditional organic electronics. Toward this goal, three main themes will be investigated. The first part of this research program will focus on the preparation of self-healing semiconducting covalent adaptable networks, the second part will be dedicated to the design and preparation of degradable and greener SPs, and the final part will develop a novel strategy to access high-performance SPs through the formation of polydiacetylenes. The thermomechanical properties, solubility, and processing methods of high-performance SPs are often under-explored in literature, making the establishment of a rational design strategy that can improve/enable these properties even more crucial. Throughout this research program, new materials will be evaluated through a myriad of multimodal characterization techniques to fully unravel and access new structure-property relationships in advanced semiconductors. Finally, the new materials and designs developed through this research program will be applied to electronic devices through the fabrication of organic field-effect transistors, allowing for direct connecting of the molecular design and materials properties with performance in organic electronics. With the rise of organic electronics, the achievement of the timely and important objectives of this research program not only transform current design paradigms for SPs and organic electronics but will also provide cutting-edge training for the next generation of highly skilled Canadian scientists.