Reversible covalent chemistry for property modification of conjugated materials

共轭材料的固有特性非常适合用于一系列塑料电子器件。此类材料通过用稳固的共价键偶联芳族结构单元来制备。调整共轭材料的性质以匹配给定应用的要求需要明智地选择单体结构单元。耦合后，属性将被锁定，并且无法对其进行调整。标准器件操作期间的材料降解导致性能劣化。然后必须丢弃该装置，导致环境浪费。总体计划目标是通过恢复共轭材料的固有特性来提高设备的可重复使用性。这将通过改善设备的回收利用和减少在垃圾填埋场处理的电子废物来获得生态回报。为此，建议利用动态共价键的可逆性进行性能调整。 通过将可逆键结合到芳族前体中，具有可逆性质的共轭材料将是可能的。可逆的性能调整将通过交换共轭材料的组分来完成。通过共价键将共轭材料连接到电活性表面将产生电极，其颜色、荧光和氧化还原化学可以通过可逆地交换组分来改变。将探索不同的可逆共价键以开发坚固的电活性层，其性质可以通过组分交换无限调整和恢复。组合电化学光谱仪设置将用于同时测量电化学，颜色和荧光与组分交换的变化。电致变色器件将应用性能再生和材料回收，以提高其寿命和寿命结束时的可回收性。最终，设备可以通过组件交换重写其属性，在不同的应用中重复使用，使塑料电子产品真正可回收。 可逆共价键也将被应用到导电可拉伸表面，使它们自我修复。为了实现这一目标，将制备新的单体用于开发可修复的导电弹性体。橡胶状电极在反复拉伸和弯曲时形成的疲劳引起的断裂可以修复。开发的单体也将应用于其他基质，特别是来自可持续和可降解原料的基质。这将通过延长塑料电子产品的使用寿命来实现塑料电子产品的“绿色化”。从可再生资源中开发电极，再加上自我修复和可回收的特性，将减少塑料电子产品的环境足迹。总的来说，这些特性将使塑料电子产品更接近真正的可持续，可回收和可降解。

The intrinsic properties of conjugated materials are well-suited for their use in a range of plastic electronic devices. Such materials are prepared by coupling aromatic building blocks with robust covalent bonds. Tuning the properties of conjugated materials to match the requirements of a given application requires the judicious selection of monomer building blocks. Once coupled, the properties are locked and they cannot be adjusted. Material degradation during standard device operation results in performance deterioration. The device must then be discarded, resulting in environmental waste. The overarching program goal is to increase the reusability of devices by rejuvenated the intrinsic properties of conjugated materials. This will have ecological rewards, by improving the recycling of devices and reducing electronic waste that is disposed in land fills. Towards this end, it is proposed to leverage the reversibility of dynamic covalent bonds for property tuning. By incorporating the reversible bond into aromatic precursors, conjugated materials with reversible properties will be possible. Reversible property tuning will be done by exchanging the components of conjugated materials. Attaching the conjugated materials to an electroactive surface via covalent bonds will lead to electrodes whose color, fluorescence, and redox chemistry can be modified by reversibly exchanging the components. Different reversible covalent bonds will be explored to develop robust electroactive layers whose properties can be indefinitely adjusted and rejuvenated by component exchange. A combined electrochemical-spectrometer setup will be used to simultaneously measure the change in electrochemistry, color, and fluorescence with component exchange. Property regeneration and materials recycling will be applied to electrochromic devices for improving both their lifetime and end-of-life recyclability. Ultimately, devices can be reused in a different application by rewriting their properties via component exchange, making plastic electronics truly recyclable. Reversible covalent bonds will also be implemented into conductive-stretchable surfaces to make them self-healing. Towards this goal, new monomers will be prepared for developing reparable conductive elastomers. Fatigue induced breaks in the rubber-like electrodes that form when they are repeatedly stretched and bent can be repaired. The developed monomers will also be applied to other substrates, especially those from sustainable and degradable feedstocks. This will lead to the “greening” of plastic electronics by extending their lifetime. Developing electrodes from renewable resources coupled with the self-healing and recyclable properties will reduce the environmental footprint of plastic electronics. Collectively, these properties will move plastic electronics closer towards being truly sustainable, recyclable, and degradable.