Phase Diagrams of Complex Materials: From the Katana, Swiss Chocolates to Plastic Electronic Devices

Abstract: The physical organisation, from the molecular to the macro-scale, of essentially all macromolecular materials can profoundly affect the properties and features of the resulting architectures. I will discuss how rules, which explain the mechanical properties of the Katana and distinguishes good from lesser tasty chocolates, can be applied to organic semiconductors. This approach helps to establish a rational framework to manipulate the properties of macromolecular semicondcutors and, hence, and their consequent performance when used as active layers in organic photovoltaic cells, organic thin-film transistors, sensors, and electrochemical devices. We illustrate the usefulness of such a framework by focusing on the principles of structure development from the liquid (solution) phase. This includes examples on how to use phase diagrams to manipulate their phase transformations and solid-state order for the controlled design and manipulation of the final ‘morphology’ towards technological and practical applications.

Bio: Natalie Stingelin is a Full Professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology with a joint appointment at the School of Materials Science & Engineering and the School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, with prior positions at Imperial College London, UK, at Queen Mary University of London, UK; the Philips Research Laboratories in Eindhoven, The Netherlands;  the Cavendish Laboratories, University of Cambridge, UK; and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zürich, Switzerland. She is the Director of Georgia Tech’s Center of Organic Electronics and Photonics and holds a Chaire Internationale Associée by the Excellence Initiative of the Université de Bordeaux since 2017. She was elected a 2021 Fellow of the U.S. National Academy of Inventors, a 2019 Fellow of the Materials Research Society; and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry since 2012. Her research interests encompass the broad area of functional polymer materials, polymer physics, organic electronics & photonics, and bioelectronics.

Zoom Link: https://stanford.zoom.us/j/92153920201?pwd=YW5PV1kxek9Cd2xuY0xwWU9zNWdWUT09

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