Center for Functional Nanomaterials Seminar

In the first part of my presentation, I will talk about our recent progresses on design synthesis of conjugated polymers and fullerene (C60) derivatives - materials already show promises for biomedical, sensing and energy applications. Our synthesis allows tailored physical, electronic, and optical properties by varying the side chain (substituent) structures which allows polymer chains to form nanoscaled self-assemblies at different length scales. These as-synthesized conjugated polymers exhibit an evolution of physical and electronic properties which can be rationalized by how polymer chains come together to form hierarchical structures.
In the second part of my presentation, I will provide examples of using these materials for DNA sensing and for preparation of charge transfer complex with enhanced miscibility between donor and acceptor. Fabrication and characterization of these polymer complexes, using molecular building blocks which collectively work together to allow tunable functions and hierarchical structures, may lead to greater understanding and eventually control over materials properties such as energy and charge transfer.