RPankow-01
Investigation of Sustainable Solvents for Electrochemical Oxidative Polymerization
Energy
Preferred major field of study or minimum required skills
Major: Chemistry or related field.
Requirements: Completion of general chemistry and general chemistry laboratory courses. Completion of organic chemistry and organic chemistry laboratory courses is preferred but not required.
Scholarly significance/intellectual merit
Conjugated polymers (CPs) are transformative materials that have redefined convention and the capabilities of electronic devices for energy capture, energy storage, biological sensors, and electronic skin, due to their low-cost, low toxicity, and flexible/stretchable mechanical properties. Oxidative electrochemical polymerization (OEP) is an often-employed method for their synthesis, since it affords the direct deposition of CP films on transparent conductive electrodes thereby circumventing the need for precious, transition metal polymerization catalysts, purification techniques, and thin-film processing; however, OEP invokes the use unsustainable, toxic, and hazardous solvents, such as acetonitrile, dichloromethane, and propylene carbonate. The research activities described here seek to develop OEP conditions using sustainable solvents, thereby mitigating the environmental impact of this polymerization methodology and increasing the appeal of CPs as more sustainable alternatives to their inorganic counterparts. The effects of OEP solvent selection on the optical/electronic properties and morphology/microstructure of the CPs will be extensively probed so that the influence of the solvent identity on the polymerization outcomes is precisely determined.
Research question(s)
Task 1: Optimize OEP conditions of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) analogs using select sustainable solvents with acetonitrile and propylene carbonate as reference solvents.
Task 2: Compare the optical, electrochemical, and morphological properties of the CP films prepared using conventional and sustainable solvents.
Task 3: Compare the electrochromic properties of the CP films prepared using conventional and sustainable solvents.
Methods/techniques/instruments to be learned/utilized
Schlenk-line and air-free organic synthetic techniques, glovebox techniques, electrochemical techniques (cyclic voltammetry, differential pulse voltammetry, oxidative electrochemical polymerization, spectroelectrochemistry, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy), and optical absorption spectroscopy.