Sequence-specific placement of defects in pi-conjugated semiconducting polymers

With the realization of the first organic light emitting diode (OLED) where a pi-conjugated semiconducting molecule was used as the active component, organic semiconductors have attracted much interest because of their potential in developing light-weight, low cost, and flexible electronic devices. Within the field of pi-conjugated semiconducting polymers, there is a growing realization that defects such as homocoupling and end-groups can adversely affect the properties, and thus the performance of these polymers in applications. However, what is not clearly understood is why these defects affect the properties in the way that they do. In our group, we have been working on the development of controlled polymerizations that allow us to accurately control the placement of defect in the polymer. By using these polymers, we aim to achieve a level of control over the microstructure that has not been realized before for these classes of materials. In the presentation, our synthetic strategies, as well as structure-property relationship studies using these well-defined polymers, will be discussed.