Thursday, April 25th, 2013
Adam Whalley
Department of Chemistry, UVM"Contorted Aromatics in Molecular Electronics"
Despite the fact that organic electronic devices such as organic field effect transistors (OFETs) and organic photovoltaics (OPVs) will never match the performance of their inorganic counterparts, the promise of roll-to-roll processing, the use of flexible substrates, and the ability to easily tune the properties of the devices through simple molecular modifications make them an interesting alternative. Recently, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) have begun to show particular promise as the primary component of these devices. While PAHs are planar by nature, we are interested in developing strained, non-planar derivatives of these molecules in an attempt to (1) control their crystalline packing through self-complementary interactions, (2) regulate their interaction with other molecules (such as fullerenes) which may find application in devices such as OPVs, and (3) understand how distortion from planarity affects the electronic properties of the molecule – such as oxidation and reduction potentials. A number of planar, bowl-shaped, and saddle-shaped molecules will be presented.