Light-Addressable 2D Covalent-Organic Framework Semiconductors

LA2DCOFS will offer an extremely talented and promising young researcher with a PhD in chemistry and an extraordinary track record a world-class training throuDiscovery and development of two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors marked a milestone in modern condensed matter physics and material science.

These structures exhibit unique set of properties and excel in almost every aspect of the device performance over their three-dimensional counterparts.

Among these materials, recently developed semiconducting 2D covalent-organic frameworks (2D COFs) received a significant attention owning to their exceptional environmental stability, tunability, processability and modular synthesis. However, to date, these structures remain passive, which limits their potential applications.

To address this challenge, this proposal describes our plans to develop light-responsive 2D COF-based semiconductors.

More specifically, we will integrate light-responsive molecules – dithienyl ethenes (DTEs) – in the backbone of the crystalline imine-linked framework which will allow us to gain a remote control over their performance in electronic devices with light stimulus.

We will fabricate a library of networks, consisting of various likers and DTEs and validate their performance and light-responsive function in field-effect transistor devices.

Furthermore, the fabricated structures will be modified by post-synthetic reactions on the network linkages to further improve their charge transport properties and thus performance in proof of a concept device.

Finally, we will integrate several DTEs with distinct electronic properties into one framework, thus creating a multivariate semiconductive 2D COFs, which will allow us to gain a simultaneous photocontrol over several parameters of the electronic devices.

Overall our efforts, if successful, will result in fabrication of unprecedented semiconducting materials and will pave the way for the development of future technologies based on these materials.