Research Interest

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Liquid Crystalline Organic Semiconductors for Solar Cells

Improving the electrical conductivity and hierarchical orders in organic semiconductors is essential in making efficient organic devices including solar cells and light emitting diodes. For these purposes, we design aromatic compounds to self-assemble into liquid crystalline phases, and study their structural and electrical properties. The goal is to identify the parameters dictating the self-assembly properties and electrical conductivities of the organic semiconductors, so that we can apply these liquid crystalline materials in improving the efficiency of the organic devices.

Voltage-Sensitive Dyes for Brain Imaging

Fast, sensitive methods to simultaneously monitor neuronal activities at multiple locations are key to understanding how the brains process information and to developing therapies for neuronal disorders. To facilitate the related work in neurosciences, we develop voltage-sensitive dyes that are capable of converting the voltage changes across neuron membranes during neuron actions to changes in optical signals, so that neuronal activities can be monitored optically.

Supramolecular Chemistry of Nanocrystals

Living organisms use organic compounds to control the morphology and arrangement of inorganic materials to achieve some remarkable functions (such as bones). The strategy is to have the organic compounds selectively interact with various surfaces of inorganic crystals. Following the same strategy, we design organic compounds to control the shape of inorganic nanocrystals during growth and their assemblies, which are extremely important in optimizing the performances of devices made of nanocrystals such as solar cells and magnetic data storage devices.