Hien Q. Nguyen

Synthesis and Characterization of a Block Copolymer Containing Regioregular Poly(3‐hexylthiophene) and Poly(γ‐benzyl‐L‐glutamate)

Poly(3-hexylthiophene)-b-poly(γ-benzyl-L-glutamate) (P3HT-b-PBLG) rod-rod diblock copolymer was synthesized by a ring-opening polymerization of γ-benzyl-L-glutamate-N-carboxyanhydride using a benzylamine-terminated regioregular P3HT macroinitiator. The opto-electronic properties of the diblock copolymer have been investigated. The P3HT precursor and the P3HT-b-PBLG have similar UV-Vis spectra both in solution and solid state, indicating that the presence of PBLG block does not decrease the effective conjugation length of the semiconducting polythiophene segment. The copolymer displays solvatochromic behavior in THF/water mixtures. The morphology of the diblock copolymer depends upon the solvent used for film casting and annealing results in morphological changes for both films deposited from chloroform and trichlorobenzene.

Synthesis and characterization of a polyisoprene-b-polystyrene-b-poly(3-hexylthiophene) triblock copolymer

A polyisoprene-b-polystyrene-b-poly(3-hexylthiophene) triblock copolymer was synthesized by anionic coupling of living polyisoprene-b-polystyryl lithium with allyl-terminated poly(3-hexylthiophene). The triblock copolymer retained the opto-electronic properties and morphology found in the poly(3-hexylthiophene) homopolymer despite the insulating polyisoprene and polystyrene blocks, making it potentially useful as an elastomeric semiconducting material.

Influence of functionalized side chains of polythiophene diblock copolymers on the performance of CdSe quantum dot hybrid solar cells

The incorporation of functional groups into the side chains of polythiophenes can improve the phase separation of polymer : nanoparticle hybrid solar cells (HSCs). Our results showed that by introducing 17 mol% thiol functionality in the polymer, the Jsc and Voc can be increased by twofold in polymer : CdSe quantum dot (QD) HSCs.

Neodymium Catalyst for the Polymerization of Dienes and Polar Vinyl Monomers

Ziegler-Natta catalysts have played a major role in industry for the polymerization of dienes and vinyl monomers. However, due to the deactivation of the catalyst, this system fails to polymerize polar vinyl monomers such as vinyl acetate, methyl methacrylate, and methyl acrylate. Herein, a catalytic system composed of NdCl3 ⋅3TEP/TIBA is reported, which promotes a quasi-living polymerization of dienes and is also active for the homopolymerization of polar vinyl monomers. Additionally, this catalytic system generates polymyrcene-b-polyisoprene and poly(myrcene)-b-poly(methyl methacrylate) diblock copolymers by sequential monomer addition. To encourage the replacement of petroleum-based polymers by environmentally benign biobased polymers, polymerization of β-myrcene is demonstrated with a catalytic activity of ≈106 kg polymer mol Nd-1 h-1 .