Photophysics of Organic Materials: From Thin-Film Devices to Single Molecules and from Optoelectronics to Entomology – Oksana Ostroverkhova

Date: Thu. March 24th, 2016, 4:15 pm-5:15 pm
Location: Rockefeller 301

Organic (opto)electronic materials have been explored in a variety of applications in electronics and photonics. They offer several advantages over traditional silicon technology, including low-cost processing, fabrication of large-area flexible devices, and widely tunable properties through functionalization of the molecules. Over the past decade, remarkable progress in the material design has been made, which led to a considerable boost in performance of organic thin-film transistors, solar cells, and other applications that rely on (photo)conductive properties of the material. Nevertheless, the nature of photoexcitations, charge carrier photogeneration, and transport in organic semiconductors is not completely understood. In this presentation, I will summarize our efforts towards understanding photoinduced charge carrier dynamics in high-performance organic materials and towards development of novel, sustainable organic materials. I will also discuss our recent discovery of how molecular photophysics can be harnessed to manipulate wild bee populations, which we now seek to exploit in enhancing crop pollination.