Issue 36, 2014

High-modulus all-carbon ladder polymer of hydroquinone and formaldehyde that bridges the gap between single-strand polymers and graphene nanoribbons

Abstract

The high-strength and novel electronic properties of all-carbon macromolecules, as represented by carbon nanotubes and graphenes, originate from their conjugated all-carbon structures. The synthetic polymers with conjugated all-carbon ladder structures would partially inherit the excellent properties of carbon nanotubes and graphenes. However, such polymers as polyacene (PAC) are particularly difficult to synthesize. In this paper, we demonstrate the facile synthesis of an all-carbon straight ladder polymer from a one-pot polycondensation reaction between hydroquinone and formaldehyde. This polymer could be oxidized and isomerized to a fully aromatic all-carbon ladder structure identical to that of PAC. Such a conjugated all-carbon ladder structure will provide a long-sought-after model for investigations on the mechanical and electronic properties of PAC-like ladder structures. The chain and skeleton moduli of this polymer were calculated to be up to 50% (528 GPa) and 89% (932 GPa), respectively, of that of CNT(5,5) (1046 GPa).

Graphical abstract: High-modulus all-carbon ladder polymer of hydroquinone and formaldehyde that bridges the gap between single-strand polymers and graphene nanoribbons

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
14 Feb 2014
Accepted
27 Mar 2014
First published
27 Mar 2014

RSC Adv., 2014,4, 18676-18682

Author version available

High-modulus all-carbon ladder polymer of hydroquinone and formaldehyde that bridges the gap between single-strand polymers and graphene nanoribbons

S. Zeng, N. Jin, H. Zhang, B. Hai, X. Chen and J. Shi, RSC Adv., 2014, 4, 18676 DOI: 10.1039/C4RA01313A

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