Engineering New Molecular Materials

我和课题组对分子材料科学技术有着广泛的兴趣。我们正在了解这些材料的结构和性质是如何依赖于构成它们的单个分子的，我们正在利用这种理解通过设计创造有价值的新材料。这项工作很重要，因为未来技术中使用的材料必须具有纳米精度控制的结构和性能。这一领域的进展需要多学科方法，使用来自许多科学领域的工具和理解。我们的团队在近几年的工作过程中已经发展了这样的技能，我们已经做好了准备来承担一系列雄心勃勃的新项目，总结如下：1)多态性：合理控制结晶以产生新的多晶，基于晶体-晶体转化和结晶，利用分子模拟技术在特定的工程表面上诱导；2)结晶聚合物：类似金刚石和石墨的共价键分子材料；3)孔隙度：制造具有高固有孔隙率的分子固体和分子液体的新方法4)非晶材料：基于添加剂和特定结构修饰的结晶抑制设计5)分子纳米颗粒和纳米晶体：控制纳米级分子物体大小、形状和结构的合理方法6)纳米图案表面：平面和曲面上的程序化分子吸附7)薄膜器件；控制薄膜的分子组织和性质，利用这种薄膜制造光伏电池和其他器件，以及表征所得到器件性能的方法这些项目有望带来基础科学发现和有价值的新技术，并将帮助该小组在分子材料领域保持国际领先地位。通过让学生在一个充满活力的领域从事多学科工作，并有很多机会在基础科学和应用科学方面取得进展，这些项目将有助于培养高技能的年轻研究人员。

My research group and I are broadly interested in the science and technology of molecular materials. We are learning how the structures and properties of such materials depend on the individual molecules from which they are built, and we are using this understanding to create valuable new materials by design. This work is important because the materials used in future technology must have structures and properties controlled with nanometric precision. Advances in this area require a multidisciplinary approach, using tools and understanding taken from many areas of science. Our group has developed such skills in the course of its work during recent years, and we are well positioned to undertake a series of ambitious new projects, summarized below: 1) Polymorphism: Rational control of crystallization to produce new polymorphs, based on crystal-crystal transformations and crystallization induced on specifically engineered surfaces using molecular mimicry 2) Crystalline polymers: Covalently-bonded molecular materials analogous to diamond and graphite 3) Porosity: New ways to make molecular solids and liquids with high intrinsic porosity 4) Amorphous materials: Designed inhibition of crystallization, based on the use of additives and specific structural modifications 5) Molecular nanoparticles and nanocrystals: Rational methods for controlling the size, shape, and structure of nanoscale molecular objects 6) Nanopatterned surfaces: Programmed molecular adsorption on flat and curved surfaces 7) Thin-film devices: Methods for controlling the molecular organization and properties of thin films, using such films to fabricate photovoltaic cells and other devices, and characterizing the performance of the resulting devices 8) Defects by design: Systematic studies of how defects can be introduced in molecular crystals These projects promise to lead to fundamental scientific discoveries and to valuable new technology, and they will help the group maintain a position of international leadership in the field of molecular materials. By allowing students to engage in multidisciplinary work in a dynamic field with many opportunities to make advances in basic and applied science, the projects will help train highly skilled young researchers.