Electrochemical Formation and Properties of Polysilanes

Major goal of the current project is the electrochemical synthesis of linear and cyclic polysilanes, which might be useful as semi conducting materials or semi conductor precursors. Particular attention is given to the following topics: 1.) Electrochemical formation of Si-Si-bonds starting from dichlorosilanes bearing electrochemically stable functional groups in order to get access to polysilanes allowing further chemical modification 2.) Formation of Si-heteroelement bonds by electrochemical reduction 3.) Electrosynthesis of functional cyclosilanes as starting materials for functional polysilanes or electronically active cyclic silicon compounds (siloxene, luminescent silicon). Additionally cyclovoltammetric studies are used to closer investigate interactions of Si-Si-bonds and various substituents.