Characterisation and rational design of porous conjugated polymers for solar energy conversion

Conjugated microporous polymers (CMPs) have exciting applications as sensors, emitting diodes but also as potential materials for transforming solar energy to either electricity for direct use or to chemical fuels such as hydrogen for energy storage, the chemical fuel could be transformed to electricity in a later stage. I propose to concentrate on these last two applications that have the potential to accelerate the energetic transition to "low-carbon" energies due to the possible high availability and low costs of those materials.

CMPs are formed of building blocks ("bricks") that are assembled into complex 3D skeletons that form nanoparticles ("houses"). These "houses" will have different shapes and depending on the shape, be more or less functional. The "houses" can in turn interact and assemble into a "city". In the same way as "houses" can present larger or smaller volumes and "cities" can be more or less dense, CMPs can have a broad distribution of pore sizes. Ultimately, the way "houses" are organised and connected will impact transport and efficiency of the "city". Similarly, CMPs 3D skeleton and pore network will impact photo-electrochemical properties and device efficiency.

The chemical design of the elemental "bricks" is almost infinite and thus, their combinations impossible to screen by trial and error method. Furthermore, synthesizing some combinations might be a real challenge or even impossible. Therefore, chemical intuition is what ultimately guides synthetic chemists. However, even in state-of-the-art labs, synthesizing new CMPs, and then characterizing them is a slow process. In this fellowship, I propose to develop a computational screening tool that can be used complementary to combinatorial chemistry to speed up materials discovery. Reaching the prediction stage within the time of the fellowship would be over-optimistic but defining...