Design and Synthesis of Low-bandgap Polymers for Organic Photovoltaic Applications

Abstract

This research at UCLA focused on the design and synthesis of novel conjugated polymers as the electron-donor material for photovoltaic devices. By careful molecular design both on the polymer backbone and the side chains, a series of low-bandgap conjugated polymers were synthesized for a variety of photovoltaic applications, including single junction and tandem polymer solar cells. In addition, the author designed and synthesized a novel higly perfect polymer single crystal material via a visible light triggered topochemical reaction. This kind of materials shows high potential for application in solar cells and transistors, which, the author believe, is a huge breakthrough in polymer science.