Introducing Functionality to Fluorinated Electroactive Polymers

Abstract

Fluorinated electroactive polymers (FEPs) are among the most interesting insulating materials for the production of organic electronic devices. Their ability to tune their response to an applied electric field makes them appropriate for vastly different applications in electronics. However, due to the chemical inertness of such polymers and the rather complex synthetic processes required for their production, introducing additional functionality to FEPs remains an open challenge. Here, we present a facile way to introduce additional functionality to FEPs and more specifically photopatternability by a simple etherification method, which allows us to introduce almost any functional group on FEPs. Photo-cross-linkable moieties were introduced on FEPs using this method, inducing photopatternability, while tuning their electroactive response with great property enhancement up to 60% in terms of relative permittivity in several cases.