Research Trends in the Development of High Refractive Index Polymer Materials

The Organic-based high-refractive index devices have ganered attention due to advancements in scientific instrumentation. Currently, many types of high-refractive index devices under development can be broadly categorized into heteroatom-substituted polymers and hybrid devices. For light to refract through the polymer active layer due to the polarization of internal atoms, strong polarity within the molecule is required. As a result, research on heteroatom-substituted polymers is being conducted. Additionally, there is active research on incorporating well-known inorganic-based structures within polymers. However, most of these studies are isolated cases, lacking clear trends, and often rely on trialand-error to optimize the polymer chains. In the context, this review aims to enumerate various types of polymers, with a particular focus on emerging cases of refractive index development through computational chemistry.