Nanoscale and Molecular Electronic
Materials
The visionary gedanken experiment of Aviram and Ratner some 25 years ago, a theoretical investigation of a molecule strung between two electrodes behaving as a molecular rectifier, suggested the possibility of electronic devices as small as a molecule. The vision offers the intriguing potential of exceedingly high-density nanostructured microprocesser devices, optical communication devices and small mass storage devices, among other possibilities. Scientists over the years from many disciplines have held firmly to the infinite hope in this grand dream and at times the field has been plagued by various forms of “irrational exuberance”. Only now does it appear that the scientific and technological advances are in place to make great gains and breakthroughs in this highly interdisciplinary research area.
Nanometer
scale structures based on molecular electronic materials and inorganic particles
are expected to impact broad areas of electronics and optics technology.
The realization of the technological applications requires a greater understanding
of how nanostructures are synthesized and fabricated and importantly requires a
greater understanding of their intrinsic and potentially unique physical
properties.
In
our lab we synthesize a variety of electrically
and optically active systems such
as doped inorganic semiconductor nanoparticles, self-organizing molecular
electronic systems,
semiconducting polymers, nanoporous and composite materials.
High resolution scanning
probe microscopy and single molecule spectroscopy methods are used to spatially
resolve nanostructure and probe fundamental optoelectronic behavior of single
molecules and structures. We are
particularly interested in interfacial electron transfer processes in these
materials.