Organic semiconductors

An organic semiconductor is a material primarily based on carbon and hydrogen that exhibits semiconducting properties, which includes single molecules, short chain (oligomers) and polymers. Organic semiconductors have quite different conduction mechanisms to inorganic semiconductors; for example, in the case of small molecules the charge carriers are typically localised to single molecular orbitals, known as the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) and lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO). Almost all organic solids are insulators, but when their constituent molecules have π-conjugate systems, charge carriers can move via π-electron overlaps, especially by hopping, tunnelling and related mechanisms. 

We primarily on the electrical, magnetic and optical properties of organic materials. Areas of research include: 

• The role of magnetic fields on charge transport and luminescence in organic devices
• The use of lanthanide ions incorporated into organic hosts
• The intrinsic spin relaxation mechanisms in organic molecules
• Spin diffusion in organic spin valve devices
• The synthesis, purification, and spectroscopic characterization of novel fullerene related materials
• Electron transfer processes in peptides and amino acids (the fundamental mechanisms for many biological processes, such as DNA repair and photosynthesis)
• The physics and applications of carbon nanotubes 
• The experimental determination of charge carrier transport in polycrystalline small molecular systems, polymeric semiconductors and liquid crystalline systems such as discotic molecules and calamitic reactive and non-reactive systems.

For more information about this work, please contact Prof. Gillin, Dr Kreouzis, or Dr Drew.