(3l) Nanoconfined Organic Molecules and Polymers: Fundamentals and Device Applications

Recent work on the optical, electronic, and photonic applications of 1D-nanostructured organic molecules and polymers strongly highlights the enhancement in their properties over 2D thin films of the same materials. Nanoporous materials could provide nanoconfinement for organic molecules or polymers with controllable channel dimensions, orientation, and interface chemistry. On the other hand, scalable techniques for fabricating thin films and membranes of nanoporous materials have been developed. Hence, the creation, scientific investigation, and application of photon/electron/phonon-conductive organic guest molecules or polymers in 1D nanoconfined geometries within nanoporous thin films could revolutionize the functionality of these guest entities while possessing excellent processibility covering a wide range of length scales (10^-6-10²m). A host of new device platforms for “green” energy, photoelectricity, biomimetic, and biomedical devices can be created via the “marriage” of functional organic molecules/polymers and 1D nanoporous membranes.

The realization of these exciting possibilities requires a new level of understanding of the structure and properties of these complex hybrid nanostructures, as well as the capability to engineer and optimize their performance. My interdisciplinary research program will therefore be dedicated to the science and engineering of nanostructured host-guest devices comprising functional molecules and polymers confined in 1D-nanoporous thin films. My proposed novel device platform, and my formulation of reliable fabrication-structure-property relations in such devices, will together allow us to pursue technological applications that include: (1) thermoelectric generators containing thermoelectric organics for harvesting waste heat from portable electrical devices, vehicles, or power plants; (2) artificial antenna systems with dye-molecules mimicking green plants for storage of photonic energy in an enthalpic form; and (3) biosensors with conducting functional polymers for cancer clinic testing.

I have acquired a strong  research background in advanced nanoporous materials synthesis and characterization, surface chemistry and functionalization in nanoconfined environments, study of molecular transport phenomena in nanostructured materials, and fabrication of nanotubular thin films and membranes. This interdisciplinary expertise will strongly support the development of the proposed research program.

Publications:

• Yucelen, G. I.; Kang, D.-Y.; Guerrero, R. C.; Wright, E. R.; Beckham, H. W.; Nair, S., Shaping Nanotubes at the Molecular Scale from Precursors of Controlled Curvature, Nano Letter, 2012, 12 (2), 827-832

• Kang, D.-Y.; Tong, H. M.; Zang, J.; Sholl. D.S.; Jones, C. W.; Nair, N., Single-Walled Aluminosilicate Nanotube / Poly (vinyl alcohol) Nanocomposite Membranes, ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 2012, 4 (2), 965-972

• Kang, D.-Y.; Jones, C. W.; Nair, N., Modeling Mass Transport in Composite Membranes with Tubular Fillers, J. Membr. Sci., 2011, 381 (1), 50-63.

•Kang, D.-Y.; Zang, J.; Jones, C. W.; Nair, S., Single-Walled Aluminosilicate Nanotubes with Organic-Modified Interiors. J. Phys. Chem. C 2011, 115 (15), 7676-7685.

•Kang, D.-Y.; Zang, J.; Wright, E. R.; McCanna, A. L.; Jones, C. W.; Nair, S., Dehydration, Dehydroxylation, and Rehydroxylation of Single-Walled Aluminosilicate Nanotubes. ACS Nano 2010, 4 (8), 4897-4907.