Selenide-Containing Soluble Polyimides: High Refractive Index and Redox Responsiveness

Publication date: Available online 9 November 2019Source: European Polymer JournalAuthor(s): Qilong Li, Shaoxiang Liu, Mingfeng Xu, Xiangqiang Pan, Na Li, Jian Zhu, Xiulin ZhuAbstractSoluble high refractive index polyimides have extensive applications in optical devices due to their ease of processing and versatility. In this work, selenide-containing polyimides were designed and synthesized via amine-dianhydride polycondensation. Two selenide containing diamines, e.g. bis(3-trifluoromethyl-4-aminophenyl)selenide (BTFAPS) and bis(4-aminophenyl)selenide (BAPS) were reacted with 4,4'-(Hexafluoroisopropylidene)diphthalic anhydride (6FDA) for the preparation of selenide containing polyimides. Comparison with its oxygen and sulfur counterparts, the selenide-containing PIs have better solubility, higher refractive index, and can bring redox responsiveness. This is due to the trifluoromethyl base, which possesses a large free volume, and the selenium element, which has a higher molar refraction and redox activities than even sulfur. Various techniques, such as nuclear magnetic resonance, gel permeation chromatography, Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy and wide angle X-ray diffraction were used for characterizing the polymers structure. Differential scanning calorimetry, thermogravimetric analysis, ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, spectroscopic ellipsometry and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy were used to characterize the properties of the polymers.Graphical abstract

Source: European Polymer Journal - November 10, 2019 Category: Chemistry Source Type: research