Development of Synthesis, Processing, and Characterization Techniques for Next Generation Electroactive Materials

本研究致力于巩固和扩大在纳米结构聚合物材料的系统加工方面的成果。 最具体地说，对于电光材料，将关注改善热/光化学稳定性和材料光损耗，同时继续改善电光活性和材料可加工性。 这将通过引入自由基清除部分和利用树枝状超分子结构单元的结构特征实现更系统的交联来实现。 发色团将继续利用从以前的研究中吸取的经验教训加以改进。 此外，还将开发改进的八极和偶极发色团。 发色团配体将用于开发新的双光子聚合物材料，其表现出创纪录的光学非线性，可用于传感器保护，光学电路制造，医学成像和超快全光开关。 树枝状配体也将继续开发，以进一步完善与光放大和太阳能电池应用相关的光收集。这项研究是由一个共同的理论基础和一个模块化的方法，允许材料组件被应用到几个应用捆绑在一起。 多用途材料和纳米结构构造概念的发展可以使相对较小但集中的材料研究工作对许多不同的技术产生很大影响。

This research endeavors to consolidate and extend gains in the systematic processing of nanostructured polymeric materials. Most specifically, for electro-optic materials, attention will be paid to improving thermal/photochemical stability and material optical loss, while continuing to improve electro-optic activity and material processability. This will be accomplished by incorporating free radical scavenging moieties and effecting more systematic crosslinking exploiting the structural features of dendritic supramolecular building blocks. Chromophores will continue to be improved exploiting lessons learned from previous research. Moreover, the development of improved octupolar, as well as dipolar, chromophores will be undertaken. Chromophore ligands will be used to develop new two-photon polymeric materials exhibiting record levels of optical nonlinearity, which can be exploited for sensor protection, optical circuit fabrication, medical imaging, and ultrafast all-optical switching. Dendritic ligands will also continue to be developed to further refine light harvesting relevant to optical amplification and solar cell applications. %%%This research is tied together by a common theoretical basis and by a modular approach that permits material components to be applied to several applications. The development of multiple use materials and nanostructural construction concepts my enable a relatively small, but focused, materials research effort to have high impact on a number of diverse technologies.