The innovation engine for new materials

Isaac Robledo

Isaac Robledo

Major: 

Chemical Engineering

Mentor(s): 

Brenden McDearmon

Faculty Sponsor(s): 

Craig Hawker

Faculty Sponsor's Department(s): 

Materials

Project Title: 

Effect of Side-Chain Architecture on Conjugated Polymer Self-Assembly

Project Description: 

Conjugated polymers have proven to have remarkable and useful electrical properties, such as conductivity, which has stimulated a rapid growth in interest in these materials for semiconductor applications in both academia and industry. Their overlapping p-orbitals create a system of delocalized electrons that allows for conductivity. Organic semiconductors also present a unique set of characteristics such as flexibility, processability, low production cost, and versatility in synthesis that promise the advent of fully flexible semiconductor devices such as photovoltaic cells and large-area displays. Their electronic performance is linked to how efficiently charge carriers (electrons and/or holes) are able to move across the pi-conjugated network. Fundamental to charge mobility is the morphology of the material. The focus of our research is to study how side-chain architecture affects morphology. Using organic chemistry techniques, we synthesized various benzodithiophene (BDT) based monomers with different side-chain architectures. These BDT based monomers are then co-polymerized with different co-monomers to generate a library of distinct donor-acceptor conjugated polymers. The effects of side chain architecture on the resulting thermal, optical, and morphological properties will then be studied through differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis).