Organizing and Optimizing Electronic Materials with Liquid Crystals

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This aims to producing new classes of electronic materials that exhibit new chemical and physical properties. Methods will be developed to create precisely organized materials that allow for detailed studies of their fundamental properties, as well as generating materials with superior performance in electronic, display, photovoltaics, and sensor technologies. Topics to be studied include energy migration and the formation of low dimensional conductive networks of polymers. In the former, the role of the liquid crystal induced order will be used to extend the exciton diffusion lengths, and hence improve the efficiency of photovoltaic devices. The latter will involve new polymerization methods in organized media such as ionic liquid crystals. Students engaged in this work will receive a diverse interdisciplinary education and will become proficient in organic synthesis, materials science, and device engineering. This education will empower students to launch successful careers in emerging industries that are critical to the future economy of the United States.%%%Liquid crystals enable the spontaneous organization (alignment) of molecules over macroscopic distances. This proposal seeks to use specially designed materials to create novel structures of materials with electronic and optical properties. These organized materials will assist in the understanding of the physics of these materials and enable the formation of new generations of molecular electronic devices that can be used to create transistors, displays, photovoltaic devices or chemical sensors. These classes of organic devices have many applications as inexpensive disposable electronics for use in consumer goods, energy technologies, and homeland security. Students engaged in this work will receive a diverse interdisciplinary education and will become proficient in organic synthesis, materials science, and device engineering. This education will empower students to launch successful careers in emerging industries that are critical to the future economy of the United States.