Supramolecular conjugated materials: achieving dimensional control at the nanoscale

过去15年见证了与信息处理和通信相关的技术发展的一场革命。笔记本电脑、手机、黑莓甚至互联网本身都是改变我们生活方式的创新的例子。继续这些技术进步的关键是需要新的科学，在这种情况下，未来的主要根本挑战之一是开发更小、更轻、更便宜和更有效的电子、光学和磁性材料。 这一努力激励了工业和学术环境中的研究，代表了本研究提案的基本动机。更具体地说，拟议研究计划的目标涉及设计和开发用于分子电子应用的新材料。由于电子器件的性能在很大程度上取决于分子的有序性(除其他因素外)，合理设计具有多功能特征的自组织分子体系是当前研究的热点和热点之一。液晶(LC)材料具有高度有序的超分子结构，是此类研究的理想对象。此外，在液晶中加入自由基自旋应该能够产生磁响应性的LC相，从而可以通过弱磁场进行取向，并且LCS的固有自愈特性应该是可能的。 总体而言，本研究计划的目标是调查和了解结构和形态对先进功能材料性能的作用。由于液晶材料用于各种光学显示器，拟议的研究不仅解决了与有机电子有关的问题，而且可能会彻底改变从数字手表到平板电视等各种产品的数字显示器的性能。

The last 15 years has witnessed a revolution in the development of technologies associated with information processing and communications. Laptop computers, cell phones, blackberrries and even the internet itself are examples of innovations which have transformed the way we live. Critical to the continuation of these technological advancements is the need for new science, and within this context one of the major fundamental challenges for the future is the development of smaller, lighter, cheaper and more efficient electronic, optical and magnetic materials. This endeavor, which motivates research in both industrial and academic settings, represents the underlying motivation for the present research proposal. More specifically, the objectives of the proposed research program involve the design and development of new materials for molecular electronic applications. Since the performance of electronic devices critically depends on the extent of molecular order (in addition to other factors), rational engineering of self-organizing molecular systems with multifunctional characteristics is one of the most attractive and active fields of current research. Liquid crystalline (LC) materials, which are associated with highly ordered supramolecular structures, are ideal candidates for such studies. Furthermore, inclusion of radical spins into liquid crystals should enable a magneto-responsive LC phase thus alignment through weak magnetic fields and the inherent self-healing properties of LCs should be possible. Overall, the objective of this research program is to investigate and understand the role of structure and morphology on the properties of advanced functional materials. Since LC materials are used in a variety of optical displays, the proposed research not only addresses the issues concerning organic electronics, but may also revolutionize the performance of digital displays used on everything from digital watches to flat panel televisions.