Fluorinated Cyclic Olefin Copolymers (COCs) and Cyclic Olefin Polymers (COPs)

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Polymer Chemistry

Background:

• Growing demand for insulating materials with superior dielectric properties.
• Cyclic olefin copolymers (COC) and cyclic olefin polymers (COP) possess excellent dielectric properties due to their pure hydrocarbon structure.
• Fluorine incorporation is a key strategy for enhancing polymer dielectric performance.

Purpose of the Study:

• Synthesize novel fluorinated norbornene derivatives.
• Copolymerize these derivatives to create advanced fluorinated COCs and COPs.
• Evaluate the dielectric and physical properties of the resulting fluoropolymers.

Main Methods:

• Synthesis of three high-fluorine-content norbornene derivatives.
• Copolymerization using coordination-insertion polymerization (CIP) and ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP).
• Characterization of dielectric properties (dielectric constant Dk, dielectric loss Df at 10 GHz), thermal stability, toughness, and hydrophilicity.

Main Results:

• Achieved high fluorine content in fluorinated COCs and COPs (up to 48.2 wt.%).
• Exhibited excellent dielectric properties: Dk of 2.11-2.24 and Df of 0.0021-0.0031 at 10 GHz.
• Demonstrated good solvent tolerance, high toughness (elongation at break up to 779%), enhanced thermal stability (Td,5% of 427-440 °C), and low hydrophilicity (<0.01% water uptake).

Conclusions:

• The synthesized fluorinated COCs and COPs possess outstanding dielectric and mechanical properties.
• These fluoropolymers show potential for applications requiring high-performance insulating materials.
• The study highlights the effectiveness of fluorine incorporation for optimizing polymer properties.