Rational Design and Synthesis of Targeted Nanostructures in Organic Photovoltaics

共轭聚合物（CPs）是一类很有前途的材料，可用于将太阳能转化为电能。为了在块体异质结CPs中获得最佳性能，供体和受体材料的形态必须形成渗透互穿网络，最大限度地使界面接触w/长度尺度达到~10 nm。目前，我们缺乏基本的理解来指导这些目标纳米级形态的体异质结的形成。在这项合作提案中，将开发控制共轭嵌段共聚物（BCP）薄膜中纳米级自组装和界面的基本驱动力，以实现目标双连续纳米级形态的合理设计和制造。这将通过完成一个跨学科的研究项目来实现，该项目将详细描述控制共轭BCP薄膜中双连续互连渗透形态形成的热力学驱动力，该薄膜具有与二嵌段共聚物的周期性不相关的表面刚性控制，以及共轭二嵌段聚合物的合成和薄膜结构，表现出传统的二嵌段形态。因此，在完成后，我们将获得控制这些系统在薄膜中组装的热力学的理解；通过这种结构，可以重现地创造出所需的双连续互联形态，为合理设计、定制和制造具有精细控制尺寸和厚度的CP系统的纳米级形态提供了一种革命性的方法。这些实验的成功完成将扩大纳米级薄膜形态的范围，可以在共轭聚合物薄膜中进行定向和合理调整，从而允许系统地研究有机光伏上的CP形态，这是优化有机光伏的关键领域，但目前还无法控制实验参数。更广泛的影响-该项目是田纳西大学化学、化学工程和材料科学研究小组之间的综合合作努力。拟议项目的更广泛影响体现在这种跨学科合作中，以及它将带来的教育经验。在这个项目的过程中，pi将继续他们的外展计划，并利用他们的研究为本科生、高中生和K-12教师提供培训经验，并为他们自己的教学和K-12访问时讨论的令人兴奋的领域提供投入。该合作项目的实施还将通过课堂和实验室建立一个跨学科的教学体系，以培养化学、材料科学和数学方面的研究生和本科生，使他们能够应对现代科学和工程挑战。该项目还将进一步发展EPSCOR州田纳西州的可持续研究基础设施，并将实施，以确保代表性不足的群体参与这项研究。

0932666DadmunIntellectual Merit - Conjugated polymers (CPs) are a promising class of materials for use in the conversion of solar energy to electricity. For optimal performance in bulk heterojunction CPs, the morphology of the donor and acceptor materials must form percolating interpenetrating networks maximizing interfacial contacts w/ length scale of ~10 nm. Currently, we lack the fundamental understanding to guide the formation of bulk heterojunctions to these targeted nanoscale morphologies. In this collaborative proposal, an understanding of the fundamental driving forces that govern the nanoscale self-assembly and interfaces in conjugated block copolymer (BCP) thin films will be developed in order to enable the rational design and fabrication of the targeted bicontinuous nanoscale morphologies. This will be realized by completing an interdisciplinary research program that will detail the thermodynamic driving forces that control the formation of a bicontinuous interconnected percolated morphology in a thin film of conjugated BCP with controlled rigidity on a surface that is patterned incommensurately to the periodicity of the diblock copolymer as well as the synthesis and thin film structure of conjugated diblock polymers that exhibit traditional diblock morphologies. Therefore upon completion, we will attain an understanding of the thermodynamics that control the assembly of these systems in thin films; enabling the reproducible creation of the desired bicontinuous interconnected morphologies with this structure, providing a transformative method to rationally design, tailor and fabricate nanoscale morphologies with exquisite control of size and thickness for CP systems. The successful completion of these experiments will broaden the range of nanoscale thin film morphologies that can be targeted and rationally tuned in conjugated polymer thin films, and thus allow a systematic study of CP morphology on organic photovoltaics, a critical area in their optimization, yet a parameter that is not currently controllable experimentally. Broader Impact - This project is an integrated collaborative effort between Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, and Materials Science research groups at the University of Tennessee. The broader impacts of the proposed program are embodied in this interdisciplinary collaboration, as well as the educational experiences to which it will lead. In the course of this project, the PIs will continue their outreach programs and use their research to provide training experiences for undergraduate and high school students and K-12 teachers, as well as provide input to their own teaching and exciting areas for discussion at K-12 visits. The execution of this collaborative project will also develop an interdisciplinary system of instruction, via classroom and laboratory, for training graduate and undergraduate students in chemistry, materials science, and mathematics who will be equipped to tackle modern science and engineering challenges. This project will also further develop the sustainable research infrastructure in Tennessee, an EPSCOR state, and will be implemented to ensure the participation of underrepresented groups in this research.