SUPRAMATES

The overall goal of SUPRAMATES is to generate new knowledge by combining supramolecularly-engineered nanostructured materials (SENMs), mostly based on organic semiconductors, with tailor-made interfaces to solid substrates and electrodes, for fabricating prototypes of optoelectronic devices. We are particularly interested in developing multiscale SENMs for transistors, in-plane diodes single-photon emitters (useful for quantum cryptography), and especially photovoltaic cells and OLEDs.
The primary objectives of SUPRAMATES are:

  1. Supramolecular synthetic chemistry: bottom-up fabrication of electrically and optically active functionalized
    carbon-based 1D, 2D, 3D nano-objects and multichromophoric polymeric architectures
  2. Hierarchical self-organisation of multifunctional SENMs at surfaces. SPMs studies of physico-chemical
    properties of SENMs across different lengthscales
  3. Time-resolved photophysical studies of single-molecules and SENMs
  4. Time-resolved spectroscopy of materials and devices: fundamental photophysics of SENMs to investigate charge injection/transport, charge generation via exciton splitting at different heterojunctions (fs-to-ms timescales)
  5. Advanced devices processing: Top-down (nano)fabrication by E-beam/FIB, and SPM-nanolithography
    Bottom-up (nano)fabrication of controlled electrodes: Fabrication of FETs structures with sub-100 nm channels
  6. Formation of controlled interfaces of SENMs at surfaces with both substrate and electrodes, also using zone-casting deposition of SENMs
  7. Devices I: Transistors: a) Measurement of charge mobility in stacks by transistors characteristics characterisation. b) transistors characterisation under both far-field and local (SNOM) illumination (photodoping). c)
    Magnetic and electric field-induced ordering of stacks and study of their transport
  8. Devices II: Photovoltaic cells – addressing the charge collection problem. a) Incorporation of SENMs carrying
    donor/acceptor groups and capable of complementary mutual recognition in sandwich-type PVD structures. b)
    Self-alignment of wires and incorporation in “bulk nanostructured films”.
  9. Devices III: Organic nano-optoelectronic devices: supramolecular switches, single-photon emitters and
    nanoelectromechanical actuators
  10. Dissemination and strategic development
  11. Management, Internal reporting and strategic development

Principal Investigators
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Project Leader:
Dr. Paolo Samorì
Istituto per la Sintesi Organica e la Fotoreattività (ISOF), Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Bologna, Italy

Principal Investigators:
Professor Klaus Müllen
Max-Planck-Institute for Polymer Research, Mainz, Germany

Professor Richard H. Friend
University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom

Dr. Johan Hofkens
University of Leuven, Heverlee, Belgium

Dr. Franco Cacialli
University College London, London Centre for Nanotechnology, London, United Kingdom

Associated Partner:

Professor Alan Edward Rowan
University of Nijmegen, Nijmegen, Netherlands

Collaborator:

Nanochemistry Laboratory, Insititut de Science et d'Ingénierie Supramoléculaires (ISIS), Université Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg, France