Hybrid Polymer-Nanocrystal Multilayered Heterostructures for Low-Cost Optoelectronics

我的长期目标是建立一个世界级的研究计划，研究基本的相互关系， 混合纳米工程的合成与加工，结构和物理性质之间的关系 光电材料和器件。更具体地说，该计划将集中在基于聚芴的系统与半导体纳米晶体相结合，形成新型的混合多层异质结构。从长远来看，这种新兴的混合聚合物基异质结构具有通过为光源、生物医学和芯片实验室设备以及太阳能收集平台等关键应用提供低成本和高性能的基于半导体的纳米复合材料和设备来改变光电子领域的潜力。 与更常见的共轭聚合物相比，聚芴往往更容易加工，对光化学降解不太敏感，同时仍然提供非常好的光电性能。这种易于加工和耐用性的结合使聚芴成为理想的主体系统，以提供对所有基于聚合物的异质结构及其局限性的基本理解，并研究半导体量子点如何用于（1）添加新功能和（2）改善其性能。 然而，这种共轭聚合物和胶体量子点的混合集成也提出了许多重要的问题。 在获得具有上级性能的可行的低成本混合光电子器件之前的基本问题和关键技术挑战。首先，最近的报道表明，迫切需要更好地理解半导体纳米晶体的掺入对聚芴主体本身的结构和光电性质的影响。反过来，这种对所涉及的宾主相互作用的更好理解将使我们能够设计和制造更好的混合材料和光电子器件架构。

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.