Organic Chemistry Seminar

The exponentially increasing demand forever smaller, faster, and more energy efficient electronic devices represents a monumental challenge in designing the next generation of post-silicon advanced functional materials.  Traditionally, device architectures based on inorganic semiconductors are fabricated using a top-down approach; their performance is inherently limited by the spatial resolution of photolithographic techniques.  In my group we pursue a diametrically opposite strategy.  Our design of a new generation of high-performance electronic materials relies on a modular bottom-up strategy.  We pursue a multidisciplinary research approach founded on the synthesis of functional organic materials with precisely defined properties, their controlled assembly into defined hierarchical structures, and the evaluation of their performance both at the molecular and the macroscopic scale.  We strive to understand, control, and harness the exceptional properties emerging from nanographene materials by developing a suite of novel synthetic strategies that offer an unprecedented atomically precise control over length, width, symmetry, and electronic structure.