We developed a synthetic route, based on radical polymerization, to a fluorescent monolithic hierarchically porous polymer composed of extended π-conjugated triphenylene motifs. A hexa-vinyl cross-linker containing the triphenylene core was synthesized and copolymerized with styrene in the presence of a polylactide macro-chain transfer agent to produce a cross-linked block copolymer monolith. Polymerization-induced microphase separation occurred during polymerization in situ, resulting in a disordered bicontinuous morphology of polylactide and cross-linked polystyrenic domains at a nanometer scale. Removal of polylactide generated percolating mesopores with controllable pore size and exposed micropores within the polystyrenic network. A strong bluish fluorescence was observed from the resulting porous monolith, originating from the embedded triphenylene. Fluorescence was quenched upon exposure to a solution of nitroaromatic compounds. Much stronger and faster quenching compared to the nonporous analog was attributed to the improvement in access to the triphenylene group via enhanced diffusion of the analyte through the interconnected mesopores.

Redox-active polytriarylamine with hydroxyl groups is a useful material for optoelectronic applications, especially in the solution-processable multilayer devices. A novel regiocontrolled triarylamine-based polymer, poly(di-5-naphthyl-2-ol)phenylamine, with 2-naphthol units was synthesized via oxidative coupling polymerization. Polymerization in tetrahydrofuran using a Cu-amine complex oxidant under O2 atmosphere produced polymers with number-averaged molecular weights as high as 11,300 g mol−1. The structure of the polymer was characterized by 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy, showing that the oxidative coupling polymerization occurred at the outer ortho position of the 2-naphthols, preserving the hydroxyl groups. The polymer exhibited good solubility in polar aprotic solvents, with a high thermal stability of 446 °C that corresponded to 5% weight loss. The UV–vis absorption of the polymer was similar to that of DNPA, indicating that the kinked-structured polymer hindered the formation of charge-transfer complexes. These results suggest promising applications of the developed polymer in optoelectronic devices.

We report a new methodology that allows for forming micropores in hierarchically porous polymers by employing the reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) copolymerization of conjugated multi-vinyl cross-linkers with styrene. Using divinylbenzene, 4,4′-divinylbiphenyl, 1,3,5-tris(4-vinylphenyl)benzene and tetrakis(4-vinylbiphenyl)methane as cross-linkers, the RAFT copolymerization was carried out in the presence of polylactide macro-chain transfer agents. During the polymerization, microphase separation occurred spontaneously to produce cross-linked block polymer precursors with a bicontinuous morphology composed of polylactide and cross-linked polystyrene microdomains. Hierarchically porous polymers with strong fluorescence were successfully derived by polylactide etching. We demonstrate that the rigid conjugated structure of the cross-linkers with a high cross-linking density is critical for creating the micropores and for stabilizing the mesopores that are templated by the polylactide domain.

The branching point of the side‐chain of naphthalenediimide (NDI)‐based conjugated polymers is systematically controlled by incorporating four different side‐chains, i.e., 2‐hexyloctyl (P(NDI1‐T)), 3‐hexylnonyl (P(NDI2‐T)), 4‐hexyldecyl (P(NDI3‐T)), and 5‐hexylundecyl (P(NDI4‐T)). When the branching point is located farther away from the conjugated backbones, steric hindrance around the backbone is relaxed and the intermolecular interactions between the polymer chains become stronger, which promotes the formation of crystalline structures in thin film state. In particular, thermally annealed films of P(NDI3‐T) and P(NDI4‐T), which have branching points far away from the backbone, possess more‐developed bimodal structure along both the face‐on and edge‐on orientations. Consequently, the field‐effect electron mobilities of P(NDIm‐T) polymers are monotonically increased from 0.03 cm2 V−1 s−1 in P(NDI1‐T) to 0.22 cm2 V−1 s−1 in P(NDI4‐T), accompanied by reduced activation energy and contact resistance of the thin films. In addition, when the series of P(NDIm‐T) polymers is applied in all‐polymer solar cells (all‐PSCs) as electron acceptor, remarkably high‐power conversion efficiency of 7.1% is achieved along with enhanced current density in P(NDI3‐T)‐based all‐PSCs, which is mainly attributed to red‐shifted light absorption and enhanced electron‐transporting ability.

Two donor-acceptor alternating copolymers based on electron-rich triarylamine, di(1-(6-(2-ethylhexyl))naphthyl)phenylamine (DNPA), and electron-deficient benzothiadiazole and benzoselenadiazole derivatives were designed and synthesized via Suzuki coupling reaction. The resulting triarylamine-based alternating copolymers PDNPADTBT and PDNPADTBS showed good solubility in common organic solvents and good thermal stability. The optical band gaps determined from the onset absorption were 1.93 and 1.81 eV, respectively. By introducing the naphthalene ring into the triarylamine, copolymers had relatively deep HOMO energy levels of −5.48 and −5.45 eV, which led to a high open circuit voltage (Voc) and good air stability for photovoltaic application. Bulk heterojunction solar cells were fabricated with a structure of ITO/PEDOT-PSS/copolymers-PC70BM/LiF/Al by blending the copolymer with PC70BM. Both blend systems showed remarkably high Voc near 0.9 V, and the highest performance of 2.2% was obtained from PDNPADTBT, with Voc = 0.88 V, Jsc = 7.4 mA/cm2, and a fill factor of 34.4% under AM 1.5 G.