TODAM · Transformation of Organic Dyes into Advanced Materials by Chemical Vapour Deposition

Transformation of Organic Dyes into Advanced Materials by Chemical Vapour Deposition

Conjugated polymers are drawing a constantly growing interest for modern energy technologies, particularly for the clean production of hydrogen fuel by visible-light photo-electrocatalytic water splitting. Although conjugated polymer catalysts are reported as stable, low cost and versatile materials, current synthetic approaches (solution-based) have prevented the study of the most interesting motifs and hindered the integration and up-scaling of most conjugated polymers for practical applications. The central idea of the TODAM project built on the recent achievements of the host group in the chemical vapour deposition (CVD) reaction of chromophore-based conjugated polymers. The main scientific objectives of the TODAM project were: i) Establish oCVD conditions for the polymerisation DPP-derivatives into DPP-based conductive polymer thin films directly from the gas phase. ii) Disclose new families of conjugated polymers and copolymers based on N-unsubstituted DPPs. iii) Provide insights into the properties and potential of the formed DPP-based CPs toward solar-assisted fuel production, creating polymers with donor-acceptor structure and tuneable electronic structure. iv) Study the generation, separation and transfer of charge processes in the DPP-based CP thin films and evaluate their potential for the efficient photo-electrocatalytic production of hydrogen. The TODAM project effectively combined the expertise of the applicant and the supervisor to expand far beyond the state-of-the-art of conjugated polymers while investigating the gas phase polymerisation of industrial dyes, i.e. DiketoPyrroloPyrrole (DPP) derivatives. In spite of their remarkable properties, including an exceptional light resistance and unique physicochemical properties, conjugated DPP assemblies remain a largely unexplored topic due to the lack of synthetic approaches. The outcomes of the TODAM project are two-fold with i) the development of a oCVD route towards the synthesis, engineering and deposition of unreported non-N-alkylated DPP-based conjugated polymer thin films, and ii) the in-depth study of the photo-electronic and photo-electro-catalytic properties of the new conjugated polymers and the identification of promising building blocks for the preparation of photoanodes and photocathodes for the production of hydrogen from solar-assisted water splitting.

Текст от CORDIS, на английски · Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз