Orbital Cinema and Cyclacenes: European Research Council awards two ERC Synergy Grants to SFB 1083 members

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The European Research Council (ERC) awarded two Synergy Grant to the SFB-related projects “Photoemission Orbital Cinematography: An ultrafast wave function lab” (Orbital Cinema) and “Tackling the Cyclacene Challenge” (TACY).

The ERC has awarded two Synergy Grants to Michael Gottfried, Ulrich Höfer, Stefan Tautz, and collaborators, for projects that built on work in SFB 1083.

Foto: Jan Hosan

Michael Gottfried, Vice Speaker of SFB 1083, receives around 4.5 million euros for “Tackling the Cyclacene Challenge” (TACY). Cyclacenes are an elusive class of ring-shaped carbon-based molecules with unique electronic and magnetic properties. They are expected to provide fundamental insight into the chemistry of strained aromatic systems and to find applications in organic electronic and spintronics. The TACY team, which includes Michael Mastalerz from Heidelberg and Holger Bettinger from Tübingen, pursues the goal of generating cyclacenes for the first time. The ERC funds this project with around 11 million euros.

Foto: Jan Hosan

The second Synergy Grant was awarded to Ulrich Höfer and Stefan Tautz, project leaders of SFB 1083, and their collaborators Rupert Huber from Regensburg and Peter Puschnig from Graz. Ulrich Koert and Jens Güdde, two other SFB 1083 project leaders, are associated partners. Their project “Photoemission Orbital Cinematography: An ultrafast wave function lab”, in short “Orbital Cinema”, aims to reach sub-cycle time resolution in orbital videography and to actively shape and functionalize molecular orbitals with lightwaves. This project is funded with up to 11.4 million euros.

For further information about these projects, see the following:

Leopoldina awards Greve Prize to Kerstin Volz and Jürgen Janek

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Physicist Kerstin Volz and physical chemist Jürgen Janek will receive the 2022 Greve Prize from the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina for their fundamental insights into rechargeable batteries.

Image: Rolf K. Wegst (l.) | Christian Stein/Philipps-Universität Marburg (r.).

Kerstin Volz, Speaker of the SFB 1083 and project leader of A5, A14 und B13, and Leopoldina member Jürgen Janek, Director of the Center for Materials Research at the Justus Liebig University Giessen, investigate electrochemical energy storage devices and novel materials therefore. Their research has helped to improve high-performance batteries and develop new, resource-saving electrochemical energy storage concepts.

In their collaborative work, Kerstin Volz and Jürgen Janek investigate processes in solid-state batteries and structural changes during operation. Using a combination of electron microscopic and electrochemical methods they have managed, for example, to shed light on aging phenomena which lead to reductions in battery capacity.

The German National Academy of Science Leopoldina’s Greve Prize is awarded to scientists or research teams in Germany. The newly established prize is awarded every two years on a specific topic and honors outstanding research achievements in the natural sciences/medicine and engineering sciences. This year, the topic was the scientific foundations of sustainable energy supply. The prize is endowed with 250,000 euros, with funds from the Greve Foundation.

For further information, please see the press release by the Leopoldina (in German and English) as well as by the Philipps University Marburg (in German).

Contact

Prof. Dr. Kerstin Volz
Philipps-Universität Marburg
SFB 1083 spokeswoman
Tel.: 06421 28-22297
EMAIL

F-Center Mediated Growth of Patterned Organic Semiconductor Films on Alkali Halides – Publication by A2 (Witte)

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In a combined experimental and theoretical study, the groups of Gregor Witte (A2) and Jérôme Cornil from the University Mons present a new approach of patterning organic semiconductor films with simultaneous molecular orientation control based on an electrostatic stabilization at the film/substrate interface in the presence of F-centers in alkali halide substrates created by controlled electron irradiation.

Scheme of the process chain that allows transfer of patterned organic films to any non-water-soluble substrate. Reprinted with permission from ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2022. Copyright 2022 American Chemical Society.

A key problem in organic electronics remains the lateral patterning and structuring of organic films for device applications since photo­lithography is not applicable due to the lack of chemical robustness of the organic materials in the etching process. Therefore, alternative approaches are necessary for the patterning of organic films.

In this study, Darius Günder et al. demonstrate that electron irradiation of KCl(100) substrates induces surface localized F-centers (halide vacancies) that strongly influence the molecular orientation and lateral structure of subsequently grown organic films. By combining AFM, SEM and XRD measurements they show for the case of dinaphto­thieno­thiophene (DNTT) that molecules adopt a recumbent molecular orientation and form elongated fibers while hexagonally shaped islands with upright orientation are present on pristine KCl. Interestingly, both morphologies exhibit epitaxial alignments that are understood by higher-order commensurabilities. A complementary DFT-based theoretical analysis in the group of Jérôme Cornil identified electrostatic interactions between F-centers and interfacial DNTT molecules as origin of the different film morphologies. Furthermore, shadow masks or electron beam lithography techniques also allow spatially selective surface irradiation to generate patterns of F-centers, and thus enable lateral structuring of DNTT films.

Finally, it could be shown that due to the water solubility of the alkali halide growth templates, the patterned organic films can also be transferred to other substrates, including amorphous elastomeric plastic substrates, while the lateral and orientational order remain fully intact, hence underlining the great potential of this new patterning method for device applications.

Publication

D. Günder, V. Diez-Cabanes, A. Huttner, T. Breuer, V. Lemaur, J. Cornil, G. Witte
F-Center-Mediated Growth of Patterned Organic Semiconductor Films on Alkali Halides
ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces (2022) DOI:10.1021/acsami.2c13934

Contact

Prof. Dr. Gregor Witte
Philipps-Universität Marburg
SFB 1083 project A2
Tel.: 06421 28-21384
EMAIL