Functional polymeric materials: innovation through fundamental insight

对基本材料特性的洞察可以导致改进材料、新的制造工艺和新的设备。我的项目的长期愿景是利用物理化学、材料科学、电化学和设备物理学的前沿技术来应对有机电子材料开发中的挑战。具体地说，长期目标是：a)提高我们对有机电子材料的基本理解，b)在超临界流体中开发自组装，以沉积具有特殊性能的材料，以及c)应用我们在a)和b)中的发现来创造创新设备。有机电子材料可用于柔性显示器、印刷生物传感器、人造肌肉和其他尖端设备。在接下来的5年里，我们将专注于有机电子材料的性质，这些材料既可以导电离子，也可以导电电子载流子。这些材料可用于生物传感器、可在电压作用下改变颜色的窗口、发光设备、半导体逻辑元件、人造肌肉以及可加热或冷却表面的柔性设备。材料之间的界面和离子运动的动力学对这些设备的运行至关重要。当离子靠近有机电子材料时，它就会带电。这个过程与我们可以直接检测到的材料的颜色变化有关。在目标1中，我们将测量这种颜色变化的速度，以了解离子如何从一种材料移动到另一种材料，以及离子移动速度与化学结构之间的关系。目标2集中在我们的材料沉积专利工艺上。这一过程使用了超临界流体的独特性质，即表现出气体和液体中间性质的液体。我们利用它们不断从类液体行为转变为类气体行为的能力来指导只能在溶液中加工的材料的沉积。我们已经实现了比目前最先进的功能尺寸小10倍的功能。这项技术还可以进一步缩小。我们将研究如何精细地控制材料沉积。我们还将使用这种技术来创建复合材料，重点是金属-弹性体复合材料，以创建可拉伸的金属和丙烯酸-陶瓷复合材料，以制造增韧的光学材料。目标1的成果将帮助化学家开发更好的材料，帮助应用物理学家和工程师开发更好的设备。发展清洁经济新技术，重点是电池用重要矿物提取和净水。目标2的结果将导致新材料具有其他方法难以实现的性能，提供了极好的商业化机会。归根结底，加拿大的好处包括为加拿大工业开发优质材料、设备和制造方法。

Insight into fundamental material properties can lead to improved materials, new manufacturing processes, and new devices. The long-term vision for my program is to leverage techniques at the leading edge of Physical Chemistry, Materials Science, Electrochemistry, and Device Physics to address challenges in the development of organic electronic materials. Specifically, the long-term goals are to: a) improve our fundamental understanding of organic electronic materials, b) develop self-assembly in supercritical fluids to deposit materials with exceptional properties, and c) apply our findings from a) and b) to create innovative devices. Organic electronic materials are useful for flexible displays, printed biosensors, artificial muscles, and other cutting-edge devices. Over the next 5 years we will focus on the properties of organic electronic materials that can conduct both ions and electronic charge carriers. These materials are useful in biosensors, windows that can change colour upon the application of a voltage, light emitting devices, semiconductor logic components, artificial muscles, and flexible devices that can heat or cool a surface. Interfaces between materials and the dynamics of ion movement are crucial for the operation of these devices. When an ion moves close to an organic electronic material, it becomes charged. This process is coupled to a color change in the material that we can detect directly. In Objective 1, we will measure the rate of this colour change to understand how ions move from one material to the other and the relationship between chemical structure the speed of ion movement. Objective 2 centres on our patented process for materials deposition. The process uses the unique properties of supercritical fluids, fluids that exhibit properties intermediate to gasses and liquids. We have leveraged their ability to transition continuously from liquid-like to gas-like behavior to direct the deposition of materials that can only be processed in solution. We have achieved feature sizes 10-fold smaller than the current state-of-the-art. The technique can be further scaled down. We will investigate how finely we can control material deposition. We will also use this technique to create composite materials, focusing on metal-elastomer composites to create a stretchable metal and acrylic-ceramic composites to make toughened optical materials. The outcome of Objective 1 will aid chemists to develop better materials and applied physicists and engineers to develop better devices. We will develop new technologies to bring forth a cleaner economy, focusing on the extraction of vital minerals for batteries and water purification. The outcome of Objective 2 will result in new materials with properties difficult to achieve by other methods, offering excellent commercialization opportunities. Ultimately, the benefits to Canada include the development of superior materials, devices, and manufacturing methods for Canadian industry.