Polymer Engineering Faculty Research

Synthesis and characterization of polystyrene-block-polyisoprene functionalized with aromatic 1, 3, 4-oxadiazoles by metal catalyzed reaction

Xiong Gong, The University of Akron

Abstract

A series of polystyrene-block-polyisoprene functionalized with aromatic oxadiazoles have been synthesized by platinum catalyzed hydrosilation and palladium catalyzed Heck reaction. Transmission electron microscopic studies show that the copolymers exhibit microphase separation with a spherical microdomain. From the time-of-flight experimental results, the electron transport process is dispersive with the electron carrier mobilities of ˜10–4 cm2 V–1 s–1, which is comparable to some oxadiazole-doped polymer films.