ANR BIOCOP

BIO-based Pi-COnjugated Polymers

While organic electronics devices are becoming ubiquitous in our daily lives with the use of the OLED technology in displays and the development of flexible organic photovoltaic (OPV) modules, transistors or sensors to name a few, this field mainly depends on the use of non-renewable petroleum resources and on processes that generally require toxic solvents and transition metal catalysts for the preparation of the major component, i.e. the Pi-conjugated polymers. Most of these polymers are synthesized through oxidative aryl-aryl coupling reactions such as, dehalogenative condensation (Yamamoto coupling) as well as Suzuki-Miyaura, Heck, Kumada, Negishi and Stille cross-coupling reactions. The presence of residual metal traces after these organometallic processes strongly affects optoelectronic performance of π-conjugated polymers and requires lengthy and tedious purification steps. Only very recently, an environmentally benign method, the direct (hetero)arylation polymerization, has emerged, showing good promise in the field. Still, both halogenated and organometallic precursors are necessary. In this project, we not only aim at using monomers from biomass but also at integrating some of the "green chemistry" principles in the design and processing of Pi-conjugated polymers for OPV applications.

Partners: Laboratoire de l'Intégration du Matériau au Système, Institut des Sciences Moléculaires