A conjugated polymer plastic gel
Name
316803071-MIT.pdf
Description
Full printable version
Size
16.6 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
cd3bb43ef9b9c5aec4d9ef04abf50b21
Author(s)
Alcazar Jorba, Daniel
Advisor(s)
Edwin L. Thomas.
Date Issued
2008
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
We present a gel route to process highly oriented conjugated polymer films and fibers. The incorporation of hexafluoroisopropanol, a strong and stable dipolar group, to the polythiophene backbone enhances the solubility and especially, the hydrogen bond forming capabilities of the polymer. This functionalization enables the polymer to build up an isotropic self-supporting network structure based on a combination of polymer-polymer chain interactions and interchain hydrogenbondings. These thermally reversible physical crosslinks incorporate plasticity in the conjugated polymer gel. The gel network can be melted and then transformed via mechanical deformation to form an anisotropic gel with the chains highly aligned along the tensile direction. The oriented gel morphology comprises a distribution of crystalline clusters in an overall swollen network. In these ordered regions, conjugated backbones are [pi]-stacked with respect to each other neighbors. The mechanically induced structural rearrangement from an isotropic to an anisotropic conjugated polymer gel occurs when transitioning from the molten state to the gel state. This study highlights the versatility of incorporating plasticity in the design of conjugated polymer materials via a gel processing technology and its potential for applications.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 107-119).
Thesis (M. Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering, 2008.
Subjects
Materials Science and Engineering.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Materials Science and Engineering
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