A Novel Synthetic Route Towards Conjugated Polymers for Photovoltaic Materials via Metallacycle Transfer

• Author / Creator

  Kang, Le

• Conjugated polymers are actively studied as photovoltaic materials in bulk heterojunction solar cell devices. Five-membered heterocycles, typically thiophene and its derivatives, are the most common building units in these polymers. However, conjugated polymers containing inorganic elements other than sulfur have received less research attention due to associated synthetic difficulties, even though incorporation of main group elements (such as selenium) has led to improved power conversion efficiency relative to thiophene-based polymers. Zirconium-mediated metallacycle transfer chemistry developed by Fagan et al. provides an easy access to obtain a series of main group heterocycles. Our goal is to apply this metallacycle transfer chemistry towards polymer synthesis and develop a synthetic route to prepare polymers whose band gaps can be tunable by incorporating various main group elements. The work described in this Thesis involves the use of metallacycle transfer chemistry to prepare conjugated hybrid thiophene-selenophene polymers for future application as photovoltaic materials.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Photovoltaic materials
  • Conjugated polymers
  • Metallacycle transfer

• Graduation date

  Fall 2012

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Science

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3QJ7885V

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.