Fundamentals of Conjugated Ionomer Electronics

该项目的这一技术部分涉及离子功能化导电聚合物在电子学中应用的某些基本原理，即所谓的共轭离聚体。该项目的三个主要目标是：(1)阐明基于共轭二聚物的pn结的电流整流机制；(2)阐明在未掺杂的阴离子和阳离子离聚体之间形成的一类新型异离子结的稳态整流机制；(3)探索一种依赖于非法拉第过程的非传统掺杂共轭聚合物的方法。为了实现这些目标，我们采用了一套全面的电学和电化学表征方法来研究一系列合理设计的聚合物双层结构。这些研究与单层结构的研究是相辅相成的，并且在很大程度上依赖于一族共轭二聚物的可用性或不同的离子官能团密度。这些表征方法的结果将与为无机半导体类似物开发的理论以及为分子系统开发的理论进行比较。该建议的更广泛影响源于更好地理解聚合物与无机半导体的关系以及混合离子/电子导体之间界面的独特性质。通过这样做，这些研究将有助于指导基于共轭聚合物的电子和光电子器件的未来发展，例如晶体管和发光二极管。该项目还将影响本科生和研究生在材料基础科学方面的培训。参与该项目的研究生将成为一项综合培训计划的一部分，该计划整合了化学家和物理学家，并包括半导体器件领域的有针对性的技术培训以及校外实习。该项目将通过他们对研究的贡献和通过课程开发接触到广泛的本科生。将开发一门新的非专业本科课程，教授基本的化学和物理原理，使用日常材料和它们所基于的设备作为背景。

This technical component of this project deals with certain fundamental principlesunderlying the application of ionically functionalized conducting polymers, so calledconjugated ionomers, to electronics. The three primary goals of the project are: (1) toelucidate the mechanism of current rectification at pn junctions based on conjugatedionomers; (2) to elucidate the mechanism of steady-state rectification in a new class ofheteroionic junctions formed between an undoped anionic and cationic ionomer; (3) toexplore a non-traditional method of doping conjugated polymers that relies on non-Faradaic processes. To achieve these goals, a comprehensive suite of electrical andelectrochemical characterization methods are applied to study a series of rationallydesigned polymer bilayer structures. These studies are complemented by studies onsingle layer structures and rely heavily on the availability of a family of conjugatedionomers or varying ionic functional group density. The results of the characterizationmethods are to be compared to both theories developed for inorganic semiconductoranalogues as well as those developed for molecular systems.The broader impacts of the proposal stem from better understanding the relationof polymeric to inorganic semiconductors as well as the unique properties of interfacesbetween mixed ionic/electronic conductors. In doing so, these studies will help guide thefuture development of electronic and optoelectronic devices, such as transistors and lightemittingdiodes, based on conjugated polymers. The project will also impact the trainingof both undergraduates and graduate students in the basic science of materials. Graduatestudents working on the project will be part of a comprehensive training program thatintegrates chemists and physicists and includes targeted technical training in the area ofsemiconductor devices as well as off-campus internships. A broad range ofundergraduates will be reached by the project both through their contributions to researchand through curriculum development. A new non-majors undergraduate course will bedeveloped that teaches basic chemical and physical principles using everyday materialsand the devices upon which they are based as a context.