Chemistry Seminar with Dr. Malika Jeffries-EL from Boston University at 3:00pm

The past two decades have seen a dramatic increase in the number of consumer electronics in use. Previously, most households had a landline phone, one or two televisions, and the occasional desktop computer. These days, most people own numerous electronic devices, resulting in an increased demand for the semiconducting materials that drive this technology and the energy needed to power them. Accordingly, there has been a lot of interest in developing organic semiconductors, as many of the inorganic materials used in these devices are in limited supply.  Organic semiconductors are either polymers or small molecules that feature an extended pi-conjugation. These materials possess many exceptional electronic, optical, and thermal properties and thus are well-suited for applications such as transistors, solar cells, and light-emitting diodes. Unfortunately, several issues must be addressed before real-life products can be developed. Unfortunately, several issues must be addressed before real-life products can be developed. Our group focuses on the design and synthesis of new organic semiconductors based on low-cost and/or easily prepared starting materials. Since the properties of organic semiconductors can be readily modified through chemical synthesis, we have turned our attention towards the design and synthesis of novel aromatic building blocks. Our group developed several new materials based including wide band gap materials for use in organic light-emitting diodes and narrow band gap materials for use in photovoltaic cells. Our recent work on will be presented.