Grant: Alliance Grants

The rapid integration of new sustainable technologies and value-added materials that convert or store energy and effectively interact with light, plays a pivotal role for the quality of life of all humans. In this context, much research has lately been focused on the design and synthesis of lightweight and structurally flexible organic conjugated materials. The organic nature of the materials allows for an effective bottom-up approach toward sophisticated functional materials via chemical synthesis. In this context, main group species are now increasingly valued as an intriguing alternative to purely organic materials for their unique structures and electronics, providing access to electron-accepting materials in particular, whose generally limited availability and stability had been major hurdles towards establishing new practical applications for organic materials. This Alliance International Collaboration project with the Yamaguchi and Yanai groups at Nagoya University in Japan, targets the design and optimized development of novel luminescent and/or electronically active organophosphorus materials that showcase cationic phosphorus centres with pronounced electron-acceptor character. The scientific approach combines the chemical synthesis and machine-learning expertise of the three PIs for a streamlined optimization of the material structures and functional properties. The project will provide important insights into key parameters for the targeted properties that entail significant potential of the new species for a variety of applications simultaneously, from organic batteries that enable efficient electrochemical energy storage to electrochromic windows and fluorescent bio-imaging agents. The collaborative research thus opens a path to new-generation multifunctional materials that are powerful, highly tunable and have a reduced cost factor for their manufacture. Canadian manufacturers will be among first knowledge users and so, there will be benefits to the Canadian economy and Canadian consumers.