Condensed Matter Seminar

Prof. I.D.W. Samuel
Director of the Organic Semiconductor Centre, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St Andrews

Tuesday, February 24, 2009; 4:00 pm in JFB 334

ORGANIC SEMICONDUCTORS: LIGHTING UP THE FUTURE

Organic semiconductors are very promising optoelectronic materials allowing simple fabrication of devices such as LEDs, solar cells and lasers. This talk will show three aspects of recent progress in developing solution-processable materials and devices. First, it will show how snowflake-shaped dendrimers provide an alternative approach to light-emitting materials giving very high efficiency, and considerable scope for molecular design. Second it will show how by combining advances in semiconducting polymers with nitride LEDs, a new class of laser can be made. Finally, it will show how the Peierls distortion provides a new approach to treating skin cancer.