Preventing Benzoquinone‐Based Catalyst Aggregation Enables the One‐Step Synthesis of Highly Conductive Poly(benzodifurandione) without Post‐Reaction Purification
Abstract
Abstract Conductive polymers have become crucial in advancing various electronic applications. While p‐type materials like poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene):polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) are widely used and produced at scale, the development of high‐performance n‐type polymers has lagged due to challenges in synthesis and scalability. In this work, a novel method is introduced to synthesize the highly conductive n‐type polymer poly(benzodifurandione) (PBFDO) using α‐tocopherylquinone (α‐TQ) as a catalyst. This approach eliminates the need for post‐reaction dialysis, a major obstacle to large‐scale PBFDO production. By preventing catalyst aggregation, high electrical conductivity (>1320 S cm −1 ) is achieved, which remains stable in air for over 180 d, significantly simplifying the process. The α‐TQ‐synthesized PBFDO also exhibits excellent thermoelectric properties, with a power factor exceeding 100 µW m −1 K −2 , placing it among the highest‐performing n‐type thermoelectric polymers. Additionally, residual α‐TQ acts as a plasticizer, reducing the elastic modulus by over tenfold while maintaining high conductivity, making this material suitable for mechanically compliant electronics. Similarly, residual α‐TQ lowers the thermal conductivity of PBFDO by more than an order of magnitude. The process is scalable, as demonstrated by producing high‐conductivity ink in a 20 L reactor. This work presents an efficient and sustainable approach for large‐scale n‐type polymer production.
Article Details
Authors (21)
Jun‐Da Huang
Laboratory of Organic Electronics Department of Science and Technology Linköping University Norrköping SE‐60174 Sweden
Qifan Li
Laboratory of Organic Electronics Department of Science and Technology Linköping University Norrköping Sweden
Qingqing Wang
Institute of Immunology, Zhejiang University School of Medicine
Tiefeng Liu
College of Chemical and Biological Engineering
Sang Young Jeong
Department of Chemistry, Korea University, Anamro 145, Seoul 02841, Republic of Korea
Sri Harish Kumar Paleti
Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Chalmers University of Technology Göteborg 41296 Sweden
Tom P. A. van der Pol
Laboratory of Organic Electronics Department of Science and Technology Linköping University Norrköping SE‐60174 Sweden
Kai Xu
Han‐Yan Wu
Laboratory of Organic Electronics Department of Science and Technology Linköping University Norrköping Sweden
Natalie Pinchin
n‐Ink AB Källvindsgatan 5 Norrköping SE‐60240 Sweden
Marc‐Antoine Stoeckel
Wallenberg Initiative Materials Science for Sustainability Department of Science and Technology Linköping University Norrköping SE‐60174 Sweden
Wenlong Jin
Aleksandr Perevedentsev
Department of Nanostructured Materials Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona ICMAB‐CSIC Bellaterra E‐08193 Spain
Xianjie Liu
Laboratory of Organic Electronics Department of Science and Technology (ITN) Linköping University Norrköping Sweden
Juan Sebastián Reparaz
Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona ICMAB‐CSIC Bellaterra Spain
Mariano Campoy‐Quiles
Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona ICMAB‐CSIC Bellaterra Spain
Han Young Woo
Christian Müller
Mats Fahlman
Chi‐Yuan Yang
n‐ink AB Norrköping SE‐60221 Sweden
Simone Fabiano
Laboratory of Organic Electronics, Department of Science and Technology, Linköping University