Hybrid Polymer-Nanocrystal Multilayered Heterostructures for Low-Cost Optoelectronics

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My long-term objective is to build a world-class research program studying the fundamental interrelations between the synthesis & processing, structural and physical properties of hybrid nanoscale-engineered optoelectronic materials and devices. More specifically, this program will focus on polyfluorene-based systems combined with semiconductor nanocrystals to form novel hybrid multilayered heterostructures. In the long-term, this emerging class of hybrid polymer-based heterostructures has the potential of transforming the field of optoelectronics by providing low-cost and high-performance semiconductor-based nanocomposite materials and devices for key applications such as light sources, biomedical & lab-on-a-chip devices and solar-energy harvesting platforms. Compared to more common conjugated polymers, polyfluorenes tend to be easier to process and less sensitive to photo-chemical degradation, while still offering very decent optoelectronic properties. This combination of facile processing and durability makes polyfluorenes an ideal host system to provide a fundamental understanding of all polymer-based heterostructures and their limitations and to investigate how semiconductor quantum dots can be used to (1) add new functionality and (2) improve their performances. Yet, this hybrid integration of conjugated polymers and colloidal quantum dots also raises many important fundamental questions and crucial technical challenges before reaching viable low-cost hybrid optoelectronic devices with superior performances. For one, recent reports have shown the urgency of better understanding the consequences of the incorporation of semiconductor nanocrystals on the structural and optoelectronic properties of the polyfluorene host itself. In turn, this improved understanding of the guest-host interactions involved will allow us to design and fabricate better hybrid materials and optoelectronic device architectures.