Functional polymer materials for electronic applications

该研究项目的目标是为下一代传感器、太阳能电池和电池开发具有特定功能的聚合物，在化学、材料科学与工程、电气工程方面创造新知识，并为可穿戴电子产品、物联网、人工智能和清洁能源等新兴技术培训HQP。这些目标将通过在三个领域进行研究来实现。1)开发用于有机场效应晶体管传感器的聚合物随着可穿戴电子产品、生物医学设备和物联网（IoT）的广泛采用，对轻量化、柔性和低成本传感器的需求强烈而迫切。有机场效应晶体管（OFET）传感器在这些应用中得到了广泛的研究，但它们仍然存在一定的性能问题。在这一领域，我们将开发用于OFET传感器的新型聚合物半导体，以实现高灵敏度和选择性，快速信号响应和长期稳定性，这是OFET传感器实际应用的关键。有机太阳能电池（OSCs）具有重量轻、柔韧性好、无毒、成本低等优点，但其功率转换效率（PCE）、稳定性和可制造性仍不能满足商业需求。这些问题的根本原因是有机材料的高激子结合能（Eb）。在这一领域，我们将开发具有极低Eb的新型聚合物，以解决与当前OSCs相关的问题，从而实现新一代商业上可行的OSCs。3)开发用于高能量密度和稳定有机电池的聚合物。使用电化学活性有机材料的电池价格便宜、环保、灵活，但仍然存在比容量低、稳定性差的问题。在这一领域，将开发新的聚合物来解决这些问题。特别是引入扩展共轭以提高电导率，加入更高含量的氧化还原活性基团以提高比容量，使用强给电子和强吸电子取代基来提高放电电压。这些提出的研究课题处于未开发或未开发的状态，具有巨大的实际应用潜力。该计划的预期成果将推动研究边界，创造新知识，并在自然科学和工程科学的众多学科中实现突破和创新，包括化学，化学工程，材料科学与工程，电气和电子工程，能源和环境。该研究还将为加拿大学术界和工业界在这些领域培养具有多学科知识和技能以及强大领导能力的hqp。

The objectives of this research program are to develop polymers with specific functionalities for next-generation sensors, solar cells, and batteries, create new knowledge in chemistry, materials science and engineering, and electrical engineering, and train HQP for the emerging technologies of wearable electronics, IoT, AI, and clean energy. These objectives will be achieved by conducting research in three areas. 1) Develop polymers for organic field-effect transistor sensors With the widespread adoption of wearable electronics, biomedical devices, and the Internet of Things (IoT), there is a strong and urgent demand for lightweight, flexible, and low-cost sensors. Organic field effect transistor (OFET) sensors have been extensively studied for these applications, but they still have certain performance issues. In this area we will develop new polymer semiconductors for OFET sensors to achieve high sensitivity and selectivity, fast signal response and long-term stability, which are the key to the practical application of OFET sensors. 2) Develop polymers for next-generation solar cells Organic solar cells (OSCs) have many advantages such as light weight, good flexibility, non-toxicity, and low cost, but their power conversion efficiency (PCE), stability and manufacturability still cannot meet commercial needs. The root cause of all these problems of OSCs is the high exciton binding energy (Eb) of organic materials. In this area we will develop new polymers with extremely low Eb to solve the problems related to the current OSCs, thereby realizing a new generation of commercially viable OSCs. 3) Develop polymers for high energy density and stable organic batteries Batteries using electrochemically active organic materials are inexpensive, environmentally friendly and flexible, but still have the problems of low specific capacity and poor stability. In this area, new polymers will be developed to solve these issues. In particular, extended conjugation will be introduced to increase conductivity, a higher content of redox active groups will be incorporated to increase specific capacity, and strong electron donating and withdrawing substituents will be used to increase the discharge voltage. These proposed research topics are in an under-explored or unexplored state and have enormous potential for practical application. The expected outcome of this program will push research boundaries, create new knowledge, and achieve breakthroughs and innovations in numerous disciplines of the natural and engineering sciences, including chemistry, chemical engineering, materials science and engineering, electrical and electronic engineering, energy, and the environment. The research will also train multiple HQPs with the multidisciplinary knowledge and skills and strong leadership for Canadian academia and industry in these areas.