Synthesis and characterization of polytriphenylamine based graft polymers for photorefractive application

Novel graft copolymers, PTPA-g-PEAs containing poly(triphenylamine) (PTPA) backbone and poly(ethyl acrylate) (PEA) branches were synthesized by the oxidative coupling polymerization of triarylamine monomers followed by grafting of ethyl acrylate via an atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). Photorefractive (PR) composites based on the graft copolymers showed good static PR properties and fast response time under moderate conditions. The highest diffraction efficiency (19.7% at 45 V/μm) was observed with the composite containing the graft polymer with 18 mol% of graft density and 27 wt% of PTPA. And the fastest response (8 ms at 50 V/μm) was achieved when PTPA content was 68 wt%.