Functional semiconductors targeting copolymer architectures and hybrid nanostructures
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olymers/Soft Matter Prospective Article
Functional semiconductors targeting copolymer architectures and hybrid nanostructures Joannis K. Kallitsis, Department of Chemistry, University of Patras, Rio-Patras, Greece; Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas, Institute of Chemical Engineering Sciences (FORTH-ICE-HT), Patras, Greece Charalampos Anastasopoulos, Department of Chemistry, University of Patras, Rio-Patras, Greece Aikaterini K. Andreopoulou, Department of Chemistry, University of Patras, Rio-Patras, Greece; Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas, Institute of Chemical Engineering Sciences (FORTH-ICE-HT), Patras, Greece Address all correspondence to Joannis K. Kallitsis at [email protected] (Received 26 March 2015; accepted 10 June 2015)
Abstract The introduction of functional units onto semiconducting polymers either as side chains or at the α- and ω-ends of polymeric chains is the method of choice in order to impose additional functions to the final semiconducting materials when aiming specific applications. Moreover, the functionalization approach provides a route to further complex macromolecular architectures as well as the generation of hybrid materials through the covalent attachment of the semiconductor to carbon nanostructures or to inorganic nanoparticles. Via this prospective an outline over functionalized and hybrid semiconducting polymers is provided along with possible paths of future research toward functional and hybrid semiconductors.
Introduction The unique properties of organic conducting polymers were first discovered by Heeger, Shirakawa, and MacDiarmid back in the 1970s. This discovery was the genesis of an enormous amount of work in the area of organic electronics and was finally honored with the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2000.[1] Conjugated semiconducting polymers offer broad applications in the field of molecular electronics. Perhaps the most attractive research area in polymers nowadays is the development of novel semiconducting polymers for organic photovoltaics (OPVs), organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs), organic thin film transistors (OTFTs), sensors, etc.[2] Their properties modulation via precise control of the molecular structure has populated a vast number of publications, patents, and further technological breakthroughs in the past 2–3 decades. Conjugated polymers and oligomers offer the unique capability of tuning the final semiconducting materials’ properties via a correct choice of the chemical structure and the synthetic methodology, the variation of conjugation length, and the substitution pattern of side groups. Besides their inherent function of charge carrier generation and transport and their nanomorphology based on π–π-stacking interactions, the alteration of their exact chemical structure, and the introduction of side or main chain functionalities, meaning moieties that can lead to further reactions and/or interactions, greatly expand their properties and potentiality. Net, unsubstituted conjugated polymers such as poly (p-phenylene), poly(p-phenylen
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