SPECTROELECTROCHEMICAL STUDIES OF CHARGE TRANSFER PROCESSES IN STABLE NITROXYL RADICAL-CONTAINING POLYMERS

摘要

This work is focused on our efforts to directly probe intra and inter-chain charge transfer dynamics in organic polymers containing nitroxide radicals that have found application in various energy storage applications. We developed a synthetic process that has produced ordered systems of the stable organic radicals in the form of fixed polymer brushes grown off of transparent conducting substrates. A thorough characterization of these polymer brush systems allows for a higher degree of confidence in measurements of charge transfer rates. As a great number of variables are expected to impact both ionic and electronic charge transfer rates, various functional changes have been made to the radical brushes under investigation. In addition to nano- and mesoscale ordering of the radical macromolecules, the monomer composition, polymer backbones employed, and the density of functional groups along the polymer backbone are all among the properties that can be tuned. The efficacies of charge transfer as a function of these structural modifications as established by various spectroelectrochemical techniques will be reported.