Francis Spano
Temple University, PA·Chemistry
Most electronics run on inorganic semiconductors such as silicon. Semiconductors built from organic molecules can be cheaper to process and more flexible.
- Fields
Chemistry
Physics
Materials Science
- Topics
organic semiconductors
excimers
H-aggregates
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through May 2027
What they work on
- Develop a Holstein-Peierls Hamiltonian model of molecular H- and J-aggregates that treats excimer formation and emission fully quantum mechanically, alongside absorption and energy transport.
- Use the model to explain the absorption and photoluminescence spectra of perylene diimide dimers and larger π-stacks, which form excimers to different degrees.
- Test whether excimers act as energy traps by analyzing density matrix equations of motion, comparing predictions with femtosecond transport measurements made by Purdue collaborators.
More about the research
They already appear in OLED displays, solar cells and wearable sensors. How well these materials perform depends on what happens after they absorb light: whether the energy is re-emitted, moved to other molecules, or lost. One problem is excimers. These are excited states shared by neighboring molecules that give off redder, weaker light. They turn electronic energy into light less efficiently and may trap energy that should be moving through the material.
Why it matters
This work could help guide the design of better organic electronics, including OLED displays, solar cells and wearable sensors. It may show how molecular packing controls excimer formation. That knowledge could suggest ways to design molecular aggregates that avoid excimers, which waste light energy and trap energy.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Brian Collins
Washington State University, WA·Materials Science
Map the nanoscale arrangement of molecules in three- and four-component organic solar cell blends using spectral analysis of resonant soft X-ray nanoprobes, and correlate structure with device performance.
Shaul Mukamel
University of California-Irvine, CA·Chemistry
Develop models and computational tools to predict and interpret spectroscopy signals made with entangled photons, combining electronic structure and quantum dynamics simulations.
Wanyi Nie
University at Buffalo, NY·Materials Science
Grow and characterize heterostructures of chiral hybrid perovskites and 2D transition metal dichalcogenides to study interlayer excitons, electron–hole pairs spanning the interface.
The school
Temple University: 22 labs on PI Pages, $315M a year on research, 238 research doctorates a year.
Reach out
A start for your email. Fill in the brackets.