Design, Synthesis and Characterization of New Electroactive and Photoactive Polymers

共轭聚合物结合了无机半导体的电学和光学特性以及聚合物特有的机械性能。这种协同作用不仅使这些材料在现有设备中有用，而且还创造了全新的机会。例如，由于共轭聚合物通常可以溶解在普通溶剂中，因此诸如喷墨印刷、旋转涂层和卷对卷印刷等加工技术变得容易获得；从而使制造低成本印刷电子和光子器件成为可能。这类器件包括发光二极管、场效应晶体管、化学和生物化学传感器、光伏和热电电池、电致变色窗口，而且这个清单还在继续增长。然而，必须认识到，所谓的塑料电子学的发展已经并且仍然高度依赖于强大和通用的构建模块和耦合方法的可用性，以提供定义明确，高效和可重复的共轭聚合物。为此，我们提出了两个极具创新性的项目，它们应该具有重大的学术和产业影响。第一个项目致力于由新型直接（杂）芳基化反应制备的无缺陷电活性和光活性聚合物的合成和表征。有趣的是，与现有的聚合方法相比，这些反应有几个关键的优点：1)反应步骤更少；2)更容易净化和；3)良性酸性副产物。因此，该项目将导致开发环境友好和低成本的合成方法，用于制备具有增强有机电子性能的良好定义的共轭聚合物。第二个项目涉及新的氟化和酰胺/亚胺构建块的设计、合成和聚合，这些构建块将导致具有增强光学和电性能的构象锁定共轭聚合物。这些研究不仅应该带来新的高效双极性和n型聚合物材料，而且应该导致我们如何设计和制造塑料太阳能电池的范式的改变。简而言之，这些前沿研究项目将明显改变化学家制备共轭聚合物的方式，以及塑料太阳能电池的设计方式。高效、低成本和环保的聚合方法将被开发用于制备无缺陷和高性能的共轭聚合物。因此，所有这些高分子化学方面的研究将大大扩大共轭有机材料应用的可能性，同时有助于培养多学科的高素质人才。

Conjugated polymers combine the electrical and optical features of inorganic semi-conductors with the mechanical properties unique to polymers. This synergy not only makes these materials useful in existing devices but also creates completely new opportunities. For instance, because conjugated polymers can often be dissolved in common solvents, processing techniques such as inkjet printing, spin coating, and roll-to-roll printing become readily available; thus rendering possible the fabrication of low-cost printed electronic and photonic devices. Such devices include light-emitting diodes, field-effect transistors, chemical and biochemical sensors, photovoltaic and thermoelectric cells, electrochromic windows and the list continues to grow. However, it must be recognized that the development of so-called plastic electronics has been and still remains highly dependent on the availability of robust and versatile building blocks and coupling methods to afford well-defined, efficient, and reproducible conjugated polymers. For this purpose, we propose two extremely innovative projects which should have a major academic and industrial impact. The first project is devoted to the synthesis and characterization of defect-free electroactive and photoactive polymers prepared from novel direct (hetero)arylation reactions. Interestingly, these reactions exhibit several key benefits over well-established polymerization methods: 1) fewer reaction steps; 2) easier purification and; 3) benign acidic by-products. This project should therefore lead to the development of environmentally-benign and low-cost synthetic procedures for the preparation of well-defined conjugated polymers with enhanced performance for organic electronics. The second project is related to the design, synthesis and polymerization of new fluorinated and amide/imide building blocks that should lead to conformationally-locked conjugated polymers with enhanced optical and electrical properties. These studies should not only bring new efficient ambipolar and n-type polymeric materials but should also lead to a change of paradigm about how we design and fabricate plastic solar cells. In short, these cutting-edge research projects will clearly change the way chemists prepare conjugated polymers and how plastic solar cells are designed. Efficient, low-cost and environmentally benign polymerization methods will be developed for the preparation of defect-free and high-performance conjugated polymers. All of these studies in polymer chemistry will therefore significantly enlarge the possibilities for the applications of conjugated organic materials while contributing to a multidisciplinary formation of highly qualified personnel.