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Controlled Synthesis of Well‐Defined Semiconducting Brush Polymers
Author(s) -
van As Dean,
Subbiah Jegadesan,
Jones David J.,
Wong Wallace W. H.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
macromolecular chemistry and physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.57
H-Index - 112
eISSN - 1521-3935
pISSN - 1022-1352
DOI - 10.1002/macp.201500213
Subject(s) - polythiophene , norbornene , polymerization , polymer chemistry , metathesis , materials science , polymer , ring opening metathesis polymerisation , side chain , chemical engineering , conductive polymer , composite material , engineering
Well‐defined semiconducting bottlebrush polymers are prepared using controlled polymerization methods. The electron donor semiconductor poly(3‐hexylthiophene), P3HT, is synthesized using Grignard metathesis polymerization. With appropriate norbornene end caps, the P3HT macromonomers are used to form the bottlebrush material via ring opening metathesis polymerization. The bottlebrush polymers are characterized and compared with linear P3HT materials, as well as high‐molecular‐weight commercial P3HT. It is found that longer polythiophene chains impart better semiconducting properties resulting in higher solar‐cell device performance.