Pillararene-Containing Polymers with Tunable Conductivity Based on Host-Guest Complexations

Regulating the conductivity of conducting polymers has spurred increasing studies, aiming at meeting different demands in various fields, including chemosensors, photovoltaic cells, and so on. Herein, linear pillar[5]arene-containing conjugated polymers were designed and synthesized via metathesis cyclopolymerization of pillar[5]arene-functionalized 1,6-heptadiyne. Upon addition of an ionic guest, such polymers could form inclusion complexes, of which the glass transition temperature decreased dramatically. With the aid of ionic guest and host-guest complexations between the pendant pillararenes and guest, these supramolecular materials exhibited tunable conductivity from 10^-12 to 10^-3 S·cm^-1 at 30 °C. In addition, compared with the polymers without pendant pillar[5]arenes, such polymers showed better compatibility with the ionic guest, which could prevent the leakage of the latter one and was good for the conductivity of the material.