Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Faculty
Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar
NanoTECH Research Area Affiliations
Research Summary
The research activities of the group deal with the structural, electronic, and optical properties of novel organic nanomaterials with promising characteristics in the field of plastic electronics and photonics, and information technology. Our work is devoted to theoretical investigations based on powerful computational techniques derived from quantum chemistry and condensed-matter physics. With this approach, we are able to model compounds and materials reliably in order to understand and/or predict their electronic and optical properties. The major part of our studies involves polymer and oligomer nanomaterials with a π-conjugated backbone. Our goal is to determine the nature of the physico-chemical mechanisms leading, for instance, to: high electrical conductivities in the semiconducting or metallic regime; strong luminescence or photovoltaic response; outstanding nonlinear optical properties; specific surface interactions with other materials, such as metals.
