Functional thiophene-containing conjugated metallopolymers

Conjugated polymers containing metal groups are an important class of materials that are being investigated for many applications including as non-linear optical materials, in sensors, and as active materials in solar cells. Hybrid conjugated materials based on oligo- and polythiophenes are of particular interest as modified thiophenes are readily synthetically accessible and there are a range of methods available to prepare polymers from thiophene-based monomers. Metal groups act to modulate the electronic properties of the conjugated backbone and to give access to otherwise inaccessible electronic states. Several recently prepared metal/thiophene hybrid materials from our group will be discussed, including electropolymerized Schiff-base containing polymers of interest for their non-linear optical properties, gold nanoparticle/polythiophene nanocomposites and switchable metallopolymers. The preparation and properties of these new materials will be described, and possible applications discussed.