Design and Synthesis of Novel Conductive Organic Materials

我的研究项目旨在设计和合成用于有机电子和生物医学应用的新型共轭分子/聚合物。在过去的30年里，有机电子领域得到了巨大的发展，在此期间，导电共轭聚合物已经从实验室的稀有物品演变为日常技术的普遍组件，如手机显示器。然而，在开发下一代有机电子材料方面仍有许多工作要做。例如，设计具有特殊性质的实用有机材料，如超导和磁性，距离实现还有很长的路要走。即使是更常见的材料，如有机半导体，它们的合成、电荷迁移率和环境稳定性仍然需要显著改进。为了实现这些长期目标，必须发现和详细研究新的有机材料。作为我们开发具有独特和可调光电性能的新型有机材料的总体目标的一部分，我们提出了以下三个短期目标：(1)开发具有高电子迁移率和环境稳定性的磺胺官能化共轭聚合物。这类材料还没有被作为有机n型半导体来探索。我们的方法解决了目前缺乏同时易于合成且具有高电荷迁移率和稳定性的电子传输有机半导体的问题；(2)合成具有离域未成对电子的-共轭聚合物。这是一个相对较新的研究领域，涉及设计具有磁性的有机分子。我们的方法将集中于在有机大分子上创建离域自由基中心，目标是制造具有本征磁性和导电性的新材料；(3)发现高T_c有机超导体。这一目标将集中于合成新型的染料功能化共轭聚合物，并测试它们的高温超导电性。高T_c超导电性的理论基础是在1964年提出的，但由于合成方法的限制，从未得到实验验证。在这里，我们的目标是将实验工作与现有的理论框架相结合，以实现超导科学的重大突破。总体而言，该计划寻求通过不仅为有机电子领域当前的挑战提供解决方案，而且通过发现用于下一代应用的新型奇异材料，将有机导体领域提升到一个新的水平。拟议的研究还将培训HQP在有机合成、聚合物合成和材料表征方面；为他们在学术界、工业或政府的职业生涯做好准备。

My research program aims to design and synthesize new -conjugated molecules/polymers for organic electronics and biomedical applications. The field of organic electronics has grown tremendously in the past 30 years, during which conductive -conjugated polymers have evolved from laboratory curiosities to ubiquitous components of everyday technologies such as mobile phone displays. However, much work remains to be done in developing next-generation organic electronic materials. For example, designing practically useful organic materials with exotic properties such superconductivity and magnetism are a long way from being realized. Even with more common materials such as organic semiconductors, significant improvements in their syntheses, charge mobilities, and ambient stabilities are still needed. To address these long-term objectives, new organic materials have to be discovered and studied in detail. As part of our overarching goal to develop novel organic materials with unique and tunable optoelectronic properties, the following three short-term objectives are proposed: (1) Developing sulfonamide-functionalized -conjugated polymers with high electron mobilities and ambient stabilities. This class of materials has not been explored as organic n-type semiconductors. Our approach addresses the current lack of electron-transporting organic semiconductors that are simultaneously easy to synthesize and have high charge mobilities and stabilities; (2) Synthesis of -conjugated polymers with delocalized unpaired electrons. This is a relatively new research area that involves designing organic molecules with magnetic properties. Our approach will focus on creating delocalized radical centers on organic macromolecules, with the goal of making new materials that are intrinsically magnetic and conductive; (3) Discovery of high-Tc organic superconductors. This objective will focus on synthesizing novel dye-functionalized -conjugated polymers and testing them for high-Tc superconductivity. The theoretical basis for high-Tc superconductivity in these systems was put forth in 1964, but never experimentally verified due to synthetic methodology constraints. Here, we aim to combine experimental efforts with the existing theoretical framework to produce major breakthroughs in superconductor science. Overall, the program seeks to take the field of organic conductors to the next level by not only providing solutions to current challenges in organic electronics, but also by discovering new classes of exotic materials for next-generation applications. The proposed research will also train HQP in organic synthesis, polymer synthesis, and materials characterization; preparing them for careers in academia, industry, or government.