Organic charge transfer at interfaces

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The long-term objective of the proposed research program is to address charge transfer reactions that occur at interfaces. Understanding the chemistry at interfaces is an enormous challenge and there is a need to determine the kinetics, dynamics and forces involved. The fundamental chemistry occurring at an interface is critical to advancing numerous technologies including biosensors (i.e. early stage disease detection), designing novel molecular recognition strategies (i.e. drug:protein interactions) and optimizing organic material devices (i.e. Gratzel cells, organic field effect transistors, organic solar cells, organic light-emitting diodes). Charge transport in organic materials is the central theme in the design of new devices. Organic materials are attractive replacements for conventional inorganic materials because of their solution processability, ease of electronic or solubility tuning using synthesis and flexibility. Using solution processing, large area thin films are attainable, which could lead to dramatic cost reductions for organic photovoltaics. The proposed syntheses are built around thiophenes as hole transport material (p-type) and quinones as electron transport material (n-type). Initial synthetic targets include aromatic-fused thiophenes to develop better chromophores, with desired red-shifted absorbance to take utilize more of the solar spectrum to create excited states. Quinones are notoriously insoluble and we proposal to derivatize quinones to enhance solubility for material applications.