Polythiophene-graft-styrene and polythiophene-graft-(styrene-graft-C60) copolymers

Journal Publication ResearchOnline@JCU
Chen, Xiwen;Gholamkhass, Bobak;Han, Xu;Vamvounis, George;Holdcroft, Steven
George Vamvounis
Abstract

Poly(3-hexylthiophene) was quantitatively brominated and subsequently used in the Suzuki cross-coupling with a boronic ester of a nitroxide to form a macroinitiator bearing a TEMPO group on each thienyl ring. This macroinitiator initiated the nitroxide-mediated radical polymerization of styrene and 4-chloromethylstyrene (CMS), and subsequently reacted with C60 to yield soluble graft, rod-coil polymers. Films of the polymers display a bi-continuous phase structure as revealed by AFM. Similar polymers, in which only a fraction of the thienyl units boasted C60-bearing side chains, displayed optical properties representative of extensive π-delocalization. The potential application of this methodology for the synthesis of graft polymers for photovoltaic devices is discussed.

Journal

Macromolecular Rapid Communications

Publication Name

Macromolecular Rapid Communications

Volume

28

ISBN/ISSN

1521-3927

Edition

N/A

Issue

17

Pages Count

6

Location

N/A

Publisher

Wiley

Publisher Url

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Publisher Location

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Publish Date

N/A

Url

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Date

N/A

EISSN

N/A

DOI

10.1002/marc.200700292