Black
polyimide (BPI) is increasingly in demand for the development
of photoelectric devices in place of yellow transparent polyimide,
but BPI doped with carbon black shows serious insulation and mechanical
performance deficiencies due to pinholes and uneven dispersion. Intrinsically
BPI has thus attracted increasing interest in science and industry.
Anthraquinone derivatives have an ample high molar extinction coefficient
(ε), and appending as many auxochromes (−OH and −NH2) as possible on the anthraquinone skeleton can extend its
light absorption range, thereby achieving complete UV–visible
light absorption. However, the greatest obstacle to its application
in BPI is retaining the monomer bifunctionality to avoid gel formation.
In this work, a linearly polymerizable anthraquinone derivative, 2,4,5,7-tetraamino-1,8-dihydroxyanthracene-9,10-dione
(4NADA), has been developed. Structural analysis of this monomer bearing
multiple active groups by 1H NMR, Fourier-transform infrared,
and theoretical calculations has demonstrated that the auxochrome
groups show different nucleophilic activities owing to the formation
of intramolecular hydrogen bonds, such that only p-amino groups (2-
and 7-positions) can participate in the polymerization reaction. Subsequently,
4NADA was copolymerized into a Kapton-type polyimide. We found that
low-level introduction of 4NADA (4%) afforded a spectrally BPI film
that maintained the electrical insulation and heat resistance properties
of polyimide. This method, equivalent to embedding a black monomer
in polyimide chains, has merits of economy, universality, process
consistency, ready accessibility, and superior performance.