Center for Organic Photonics & Electronics
January 15, 2010 N EWSLETTER
Open House Brings Together Industry
and Academia by Veronique Bredas, Seth Marder, and Jason Martin
Participants at the inaugural COPE Open House attend one of several presentations that highlighted the
research efforts of faculty members.
O T
n November 17, COPE hosted its
inaugural Open House at the Klaus
Advanced Computing Building at Georgia
Tech. This provided COPE with a forum to
showcase the Center and give the Georgia Tech
community and industrial representatives
greater insight into the research activities of
the Center through research presentations,
laboratory tours, a poster session, and several
networking opportunities.
T he event brought together 17
industrial representatives from
15 companies, and about 20 faculty
members from diverse departments
(including chemistry, mechanical
engineering, physics, and material
science and enginerring), as well as
50 students, post docs, and research
scientists.
©2009 The Center for Organic Photonics and Electronics :: Georgia Institute of Technology
he day started with an overview
presentation of COPE by Dr. Seth
Marder, Director of COPE, followed by three
20-minute presentations by Dr. Bernard
Kippelen (“An overview of the research on
printed electronics at COPE”), Dr. Samuel
Graham (“Encapsulation and reliability of
organic electronics”), and Dr. Joseph Perry
(“Advances in organic photonic materials and
nanocomposites for energy storage”).
(continued on page 2)
www.cope.gatech.edu
Issue: 003
In the News
COPE Announces New Directorship
(December 31, 2009)
Today, the Center for Organic Photonics and
Electronics (COPE) announced a leadership
transition, whereby Professor Bernard
Kippelen of the College of Electrical and
Computer Engineering, will be assuming
the position of Director of COPE next
year.
The change in leadership involves a
shift of certain administrative functions
between not only departments, but
colleges. Current director, Professor
Seth Marder, will serve with Professor
Kippelen as co-Director for the next
year with Professor Kippelen assuming
full responsibilities of the Directorship
January 1, 2011.
Air Force Center of Excellence Awarded to
Georgia Tech (December 1, 2009)
The Georgia Institute of Technology has
been awarded a U.S. Air Force Center of
Excellence to design nanostructures for
energy harvesting and adaptive materials,
and to develop tools to optimize critical
cognitive processes of the modern
warfighter.
The $10.5 million Center, known as the
Bio-nano-enabled Inorganic/Organic
Nanostructures and Improved Cognition
(BIONIC) Center, is being led by Vladimir
Tsukruk and Kenneth Sandhage, professors
in Georgia Tech’s School of Materials
Science and Engineering. (See page 6 for
more details)
For more stories visit
www.cope.gatech.edu/news
 Faculty Spotlight
Dr. Ken H. Sandhage is the B. Mifflin Hood Professor in the School
of Materials Science and Engineering, and an Adjunct Professor in
the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Georgia Tech. Prior
to arriving at Georgia Tech in the fall of 2003, Dr. Sandhage had
been a faculty member in the Materials Science and Engineering
Department at Ohio State University since 1991. Prior to joining
academia, Dr. Sandhage worked as a Senior Scientist at American
Superconductor Corporation (where he conducted research on
the fabrication of high-Tc superconducting oxide wires) and
at Corning Glass Works (where he conducted research on the
processing of optical fibers for applications at high bandwidth
and in radiative environments).
Dr. Sandhage’s research interests have been focused at the
interfaces between various branches of materials science
and engineering (metallurgy, ceramics, polymers) and other
disciplines (particularly chemistry and biology). Current
interdisciplinary research conducted by the Sandhage group
includes:
i) the development of wet chemical layer-by-layer
deposition methods to generate thin conformal coatings
of inorganic and inorganic/organic composite materials on
biological or synthetic templates of complex 3-D shape,
(continued from page 1)
T he morning sessions wrapped up with laboratory tours of some
key research facilities. Industrial representatives toured the
Molecular Science and Engineering Building where they visited the
laser spectroscopy lab, the organic electronics lab, or the chemical
synthesis lab. This was followed by a walk-through of the new Marcus
Nanotechnology building. Feedback provided by the participants
suggested that the lab tours were a very valuable aspect of the day.
I n between the morning and afternoon sessions, discussions
among faculty, students, and industrial representatives during the
Networking Lunch gave participants a forum to help nucleate new
partnerships and potentially develop new programs between faculty
and industry.
ii) the use of biomolecules (e.g., peptides, proteins) to
induce the formation of non-natural inorganic and organic/
inorganic composite materials under ambient or near-
ambient conditions, and
iii) the chemical conversion of inorganic structures, via
displacement reactions with gas or liquid reactants, into
new inorganic materials that retain the morphology and
fine features of the starting inorganic structures (“materials
alchemy”).
Such processes are being examined for the fabrication of
chemically- and structurally-tailored materials for photovoltaic
cells, minimally-invasive sensors, catalysts, batteries, photonic/
phononic devices, implants, and ultra-high-temperature rocket
nozzles. Underlying such applied research is the development
of fundamental understanding of the mechanisms controlling
the kinetics of such reaction processes and the associated micro/
nanostructural evolution.
Dr. Sandhage currently directs research within the BEAM
(Biologically Enabled Advanced Materials) Center, and co directs
(with Prof. Vladimir Tsukruk) research within the BIONIC (Bio-
nano-enabled Inorganic/Organic Nanostructures and Improved
Cognition) Air Force Center of Excellence. Interdisciplinary
research within these Centers has been enabled by effective
collaborations with a number of other research groups at Georgia
Tech (particularly with COPE members), at other universities
(University of California at San Diego, Harvard University,
University of Illinois, University of Pennsylvania), and at the Air
Force Research Laboratory.
Ken H. Sandhage
B. Mifflin Hood Professor
Office: Molecular Science & Engineering, 3100
Phone: 404-894-6882
Email: ken.sandhage@mse.gatech.edu
D uring the afternoon session, presentations by 15 COPE faculty
members addressed their specific areas of expertise. This
was followed by the Poster Session & Industrial Exhibition. Some
22 graduate students and research scientists presented posters on
their research while participants engaged in discussions with faculty
members and industrial representatives.
C OPE intends to continue building on the industry connections
that the Open House generated by launching an Industrial
Affiliates Program (IAP) that will increase the Center’s network of
industry partners. More information on the IAP can be found on the
COPE website www.cope.gatech.edu/IAP.
2
Centre for Plastic
Electronics at
Imperial
College
London
by James Durrant
Imperial College London has established a new Plastic Electronics
Centre to integrate and coordinate the plastic electronics research
activity within Imperial, bringing together an interdisciplinary
team from across the college. Professor Donal Bradley FRS is the
Centre’s director, and the team comprises of researchers from
the departments of Physics, Chemistry and Materials, and also
from the Institute for Biomedical Engineering and Division of
Neuroscience.
The Centre’s mission is to actively stimulate new cutting-edge
high impact research and to meet Imperial’s strategic intent to
harness the strengths and breadth of our research to address the
global challenges of climate change, energy and global health and
security. The Centre comprises the following research themes:
Materials design; Synthesis and processing; Advanced multi-
parameter structural, electrical, and optical characterization;
Nanostructure and interface control; Multi-scale materials and
device modelling; and Device fabrication and optimization.
In addition to the new Centre, research in plastic electronics
at Imperial has been further bolstered by a recent £6 million
award from EPSRC for a Doctoral Training Centre (DTC) in plastic
electronics. The DTC aims to support postgraduate students and
develop the next generation of world-class researchers in this
field.
Imperial has had a long standing partnership with COPE through
the AtlantIC Alliance programme. More recently, this has been
extended through the Solvay Global Alliance programme which
is enabling Imperial’s Professor James Durrant and Dr Thomas
Anthopoulos to work with COPE on photophysical studies of
molecular based photovoltaics and organic transistors.
Dr. Brian O’Reagan, Ms. Xiaoe Li, and Professor James Durrant discuss the
performance of dye-sensitised nanocrystalline solar cells.
Partnerships for Research
and Education in Materials
by Tatiana Timofeeva
In September 2009, three universities – New Mexico Highlands
University (NMHU), the Georgia Institute of Technology (GaTech)
and Morehouse College (MC) - were recipients of an award by
NSF/DMR to conduct a collaborative project within the framework
of the PREM program. PREM - Partnerships for Research and
Education in Materials - was established by NSF to increase the
participation by underrepresented groups in materials sciences
and enhance diversity in materials research and education. This
goal is set to be achieved by a long-term, multi-investigator
collaboration between minority-serving institutions and large
research NSF/DMR centers such as MRSECs or CTSs. The main PI
of this project is Tatiana Timofeeva (NMHU) and Co-PIs are Seth
Marder (GaTech) and Brian Lawrence (MC).
NMHU and the “Science and Technology Center, Materials and
Devices for Information Technology Research” (STC MDITR)
collaborated in studies of organic photonic materials for about
seven years. Recently, MC joined this collaboration, generating an
idea to present a project from the three universities to support
their collaborative research and educational activities.
Anita Lopez explains her poster to biology professor Dr. Jennifer Hernandez
during Research Day at New Mexico Highlands University
The collaborators are exploring three areas of organic photonic
materials: two-photon absorbing materials, applicable for
biological imaging and photodynamic therapy; crystalline
nonlinear-optical materials, including materials aimed for THz
generation and electro optical applications; and the development
of new organic polymer materials for solar-cell applications. These
subprojects were collected under title “Light Matter Interactions:
Theory and Applications” (LMITA). This project is also focused on
attracting and increasing the number of students in the area of
photonic materials.
NMHU was established in 1893; it is located in Las Vegas, New
Mexico and it admits more that 65% Hispanic students. MC is a
historically black college in Atlanta that was established in 1867
and which admits about 95% African American students. Both
schools are relatively small with about 3000 students. It makes
their collaboration with MDITR and Georgia Tech particularly
valuable for creating a network between professors and students
through which students can find help and guidance for pursuing
scientific careers.
3
Student Profile
Carlos Zuniga, PhD candidate, Marder Group
Where did you complete your undergraduate degree?
I received my B.S. in Chemistry from the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry
at Florida International University in Miami, FL.
Why did you decide on Georgia Tech? When do you expect to graduate?
The decision to come to Georgia Tech was easy for various reasons, among which
were the caliber of the research and faculty at the institution. I hope to finish my
degree by the end of 2010.
Tell us more about your research.
Prior to coming to Georgia Tech, I was involved in various types of research including
analytical/environmental chemistry at FIU and the study of liquid-crystal systems
at Dow Corning in Midland, MI. When I arrived at Georgia Tech in 2006 I wanted
to change directions and focus on organic chemistry research. I was fortunate to
have the opportunity to join the group of Prof. Marder in 2007. My research is
focused on the design and synthesis of novel organic molecules that are utilized as
hole-transport layers or as host layers for transition-metal emitters within solution-
processed phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes (PHOLEDs). PHOLEDs are
highly sought after as an alternative for efficient lighting and display technologies.
I also work on the study of crosslinkers for the insolubilization of solution-processed
OLED layers that can simplify and reduce the fabrication costs of such technologies.
This work has resulted in two patents and we are currently in the process of writing
several papers.
My research is funded by Solvay and is possible with the help of some of our
collaborators at COPE, such as Prof. Kippelen and his group who provide their
expertise for the design and fabrication of OLED devices. I am especially thankful
to my advisor and my group for their invaluable support, help, and friendship.
What are your future career plans?
My immediate plans after graduation are the pursuit of a post doctoral appointment.
Beyond that I feel that I will likely pursue a career in academia.
When you are not in the lab, what are some of your interests?
Among other things, I enjoy watching movies and baseball, traveling to new
places, and volunteering–I’ve had some wonderful opportunities to be involved in
recruitment and outreach activities through COPE and CMDITR.
Recently, I am busy with a new organization that other Hispanic students at Georgia
Tech and I founded, called the Latino Organization of Graduate Students (LOGRAS).
I currently serve as the first treasurer of the organization and enjoy working with the
other members of the executive board and the membership to establish the vision
and direction of the group.
Safety in the Laboratory
by William Underwood
Justus von Liebig once gave the following advice to
his student, August Kekule, “If you want to become a
chemist, you will have to ruin your health.”
Just as chemical knowledge has improved since the
19th century, so has the attitude towards risk. Improved
methodology allows potentially dangerous reactions
to be performed safely while easy access to MSDS
databases makes hazard information readily available.
Nevertheless, familiarity breeds complacency and
the daily use of chemicals often causes researchers to
underestimate the dangers involved with their daily
work, resulting in unsafe practices.
In order to improve laboratory safety, safe practices
must become habitual and appropriate equipment
must be available. To assist in the latter, flame-retardant
lab coats are now being rented. These lab coats provide
better protection against pyrophoric chemicals and
service includes weekly cleaning of the lab coats.
Currently, there are several initiatives underway that
promote safe habits:
• Regular lab inspections help make researchers
aware of easily overlooked practices.
• Good laboratory habits, such as closing the fume
hood, proper labeling, and maintaining a clean
lab area, are being enforced.
• Preparation of a detailed risk assessment is
required before conducting an experiment
for the first time. Such assessments make the
researcher stop and consider what dangers could
occur during an experiment, and how they may
be dealt with, before the reaction is underway.
Researchers develop the habit of predicting
potential accidents before they happen, and
formulating appropriate responses.
These initiatives are, at their core, designed to aid a
researcher’s common sense. Such simple changes serve
to greatly increase laboratory safety without requiring
a large expenditure of time. Chemical researchers no
longer need to ruin their health to be productive.
Questions? William Underwood
Safety Officer, Marder Group
404-385-3138
wdunderwood@gatech.edu
4
 Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering at Norfolk State University:
A Student-Centered Program by Suely Black
Student-centered and broadly interdisciplinary, the Ph.D.
in Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) at Norfolk State
University (NSU) provides students the opportunity to tailor
their education and academic experiences to prepare for their
chosen careers. The program, established in the fall of 2007 and
coordinated by the Center for Materials Research, is housed in
MCAR, the McDemmond Center for Applied Research – a six-story,
135,000 square-foot research building, which was inaugurated
just a year before the start of the program. In its two years of
existence, the program has doubled its enrollment, and currently
supports eighteen students.
Akeisha Belgrave and Guohua Zhu work on a laser experiment.
Applications include biomedical treatment, environmental
sensing, and highly sensitive magnetic sensors.
Enhancing experiences beyond the traditional course and
research training provide students with opportunities to broaden
their knowledge and to exercise those qualities and skills
necessary for a successful professional life after graduation. The
CMR Colloquium, a weekly series of lectures delivered by invited
speakers, NSU faculty and students, provides a forum for learning
and discussing new developments in research areas of interest.
Mini lecture series and workshops offered by external collaborators
enrich the regular course offerings. Students interested in
academic careers have the opportunity to co-teach courses,
and lead study sessions for undergraduate students. Special
fellowships and student clubs support outreach, educational
and infrastructure development initiatives, giving students
opportunities to exercise leadership skills. Summer internships
at partner universities and with industry are encouraged, and
students have taken advantage of them, including international
experiences. Invariably students travel to one or two national
scientific and professional conferences annually, presenting their
research and networking. Graduate students meet as a group
with the program coordinator weekly, an activity that facilitates
interaction among all students, announcement of upcoming
events and available opportunities, and sharing of suggestions
and concerns by students. This arrangement ensures that students
have requests and concerns addressed in a timely fashion, and
advance towards graduation without unwarranted delay.

Focusing on the design and fabrication of new materials and

devices to contribute to the development of technologies of
high societal impact, twelve chemistry, physics, engineering and
biology faculty advise undergraduate and graduate students in
collaborative projects with internal and external partners. The
cohesiveness of the faculty and student bodies facilitates constant
cross-disciplinary interactions, and leads to varied and numerous
opportunities for research and professional experiences. External
partnerships through funded projects allow students to take
advantage of collaborators’ advice and facilities. Students are
encouraged to pursue, and are supported in their efforts to
seek, experiences that complement their experiences at NSU.
Current partners include Georgia Tech, University of Washington,
University of Arizona, Cornell University and Purdue University.
Doctoral research projects with focus varying from computational
modeling through device fabrication are available. These are PhD student, and CMDITR Fellow, Alex Gavrilenko leads LaTex
some of the major research thrusts currently being pursued: workshop for peer graduate students.
• Metamaterials: engineering multi-phase composite, custom-
tailored materials, which have unparalleled responses to Norfolk State’s partnership with Georgia Tech through the NSF
electromagnetic waves, acoustic waves and heat flow. Science and Technology Center on Materials and Devices for
Applications include imaging with infinitely high definition Information Technology has played and continues to play an
and invisibility cloaking. important role in the MSE graduate program, through faculty
• Advanced functional organic and polymeric materials: organic and student interactions. The Ph.D. in Materials Science and
chromophores and polymers designed to self assemble Engineering program will continue to evolve, adapting to the
to exhibit efficient or novel electrical and optoelectronic needs of the fast-changing professional landscape of the field; an
responses in a controlled manner. Applications include cost achievement made possible through the power of partnerships.
effective solar cells, and faster and larger capacity signal
Contact Information:
processing in fiber-optic communications.
Dr. Suely M. Black, Program Coordinator
• Multilayer nanostructures: semiconductor and inorganic/
smblack@nsu.edu | 757 823-8403
organic multifunctional materials designed to respond
http://www.nsu.edu/cmr
to two or more stimuli, e.g. chemicals and magnetic field.
5
 Georgia Tech Awarded U.S. Air Force Center of
Excellence in Nanostructures and Improved Cognition
by Vladimir Tsukruk, Ken Sandhage and Abby Vogel
The Georgia Institute of Technology has been awarded a U.S. Air Force
Center of Excellence to design nanostructures for energy harvesting
and adaptive materials, and to develop tools to optimize critical
cognitive processes of the modern warfighter. The $10.5 million/5
year program, known as the Bio-nano-enabled Inorganic/Organic
Nanostructures and Improved Cognition (BIONIC) Center, is being
co-directed by Vladimir Tsukruk and Kenneth Sandhage, professors
in Georgia Tech’s School of Materials Science and Engineering.
The BIONIC Center utilizes the expertise and capabilities of
integrated teams of Georgia Tech faculty and students (from the
Colleges of Engineering and Science), Air Force researchers (from the
Materials & Manufacturing Directorate and the Human Effectiveness
Directorate of the Air Force Research Laboratory, AFRL), and an Ohio
State University (OSU) faculty collaborator.
“Advanced materials is an area of importance for the Air Force, since
the landscape of materials science is rapidly changing and bio-
nano-materials are classes of pervasive materials that exhibit unique
capabilities and have the potential to address Air Force needs,”
explained Rajesh Naik, a scientist in the U.S. Air Force Research
Laboratory (AFRL) Materials and Manufacturing Directorate. “In
addition, improved cognition tools are required for assessing the
cognitive ability of the warfighter as we ask for more from our
human operators in the most demanding environments.”
The BIONIC Center includes a group of core members from Georgia
Tech, The Ohio State University, and scientists and engineers at
AFRL. Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company is also an industrial
collaborator. The proposed research integrates several disciplines
within the Colleges of Science (biochemistry; physical, organic, and
inorganic chemistry; psychology) and Engineering (materials, optical,
electrical, biomedical engineering) at Georgia Tech. The proposed
work also involves the use of biomimetic schemes (e.g., tunable
surfaces) and biomolecules (e.g., peptides, proteins, phospholipids)
to develop functional inorganic/organic nanocomposites for
energetic and adaptive materials and to modify and assess cognitive
activity. Such integration of biotechnology with nanotechnology is
a major campus-wide theme at Georgia Tech.
Funding for the Center of Excellence is provided by the Materials
and Manufacturing Directorate and the Human Effectiveness
Directorate of AFRL, the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research,
and Georgia Tech.
“Georgia Tech was chosen to lead this Center of Excellence because
of its investment in infrastructure development, including new
facilities and instrumentation; its recruitment of high-caliber faculty
members and students; and its emphasis in bio-nanotechnology and
cognitive sciences,” said Morley Stone, chief scientist of the Human
Performance Wing of AFRL’s Human Effectiveness Directorate.
There are three major research thrusts, called interdisciplinary
research groups, within the BIONIC Center. Each group contains
several collaborators from AFRL’s Materials and Manufacturing
Directorate and/or Human Effectiveness Directorate.
For the first thrust, led by Sandhage, researchers are designing,
fabricating, characterizing, and modeling the performance of
inorganic/organic nanocomposites for efficient, remote energy-
harvesting devices, such as photovoltaics and batteries.
“The U.S. Air Force utilizes autonomous drones that they would like to
operate for longer periods of time,” explained co-director Sandhage,
who holds the B. Mifflin Hood Professorship in the School of Materials
Science and Engineering and an adjunct position in the School of
Chemistry and Biochemistry. “To do that, they need a robust, cost-
effective energy source that performs efficiently for extended times,
while providing high pulses of power when needed.”
Tsukruk, co-director of the center, is leading the second
interdisciplinary research group, which is focused on designing,
fabricating, characterizing and simulating the performance of
inorganic/organic nanocomposites for tunable, adaptive materials.
“When these adaptive materials composed of compliant matrices
and embedded inorganic nanoparticles are exposed to heat or light
or both, they will change their properties in ways that will be useful
for sensing or morphing materials,” said Tsukruk, who also holds a
joint appointment in Georgia Tech’s School of Polymer, Textile and
Fiber Engineering and is a GT Director of the Microanalysis Center.
The third thrust is being led by Michelle LaPlaca, an associate
professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical
Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University. LaPlaca and her
team plan to develop tools and assessment methods to optimize
critical cognitive processes.
“U.S. Air Force analysts must remain attentive to computers and
controls for hours at a time, so we aim to find a molecular signature
of cognition that is sensitive to changes in stress levels and correlate
these molecules with functional brain maps using magnetic
resonance imaging techniques,”said LaPlaca. “We want to learn about
a warfighter’s physiological response to different situations and use
this information to optimize training and work effectiveness.”
In addition to its research objectives, another goal for the Center of
Excellence is to conduct stimulating collaborative research that will
motivate students to consider working at AFRL. In order to develop
required technical expertise and to allow for effective knowledge
transfer between Georgia Tech and AFRL, U.S. graduate students
(“Air Force Scholars”) will spend summer months at AFRL (Dayton,
OH) under the supervision of an AFRL researcher. Weeklong stays of
post-doctoral fellows and Georgia Tech faculty at AFRL will also be
used to enhance research interactions and technology transfer.
Other core members of the Center include Regents’ professor
Mostafa El-Sayed, professor Seth Marder and assistant professor Nils
Kröger from the Georgia Tech School of Chemistry and Biochemistry;
professor Bernard Kippelen from the Georgia Tech School of
Electrical and Computer Engineering; Shella Keilholz, an assistant
professor in the Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering;
Eric Schumacher, an assistant professor in the Georgia Tech School
of Psychology; and Hamish Fraser, a professor in the Department of
Materials Science and Engineering at the Ohio State University.
This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Air Force
under Award No. FA9550-09-1-0162. Any opinions, findings,
conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are
those of the principal investigators and do not necessarily reflect
the views of the U.S. Air Force.
6
Improving the Reliability of Organic
Electronic Devices Through Advanced
Packaging Methods
by Samuel Graham
Over the past decade, rapid advancements in organic
semiconducting materials have led to exciting developments
in the area of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), organic
photovoltaics (OPVs), and organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) with
unprecedented performance. Interest in such organic electronic
devices arises due to their wide range of tunable properties, their
amenability to low-cost large-area manufacturing, and their
potential for use in flexible electronic applications. Thus, organic
electronics will enable the development of low-cost devices with
new flexible form factors which are not possible with traditional
crystalline semiconductor materials.
A packaged organic electrochromic device made in collaboration with Prof.
John Reynolds of the University of Florida.
In spite of the many promising attributes of organic electronics,
there remains a great challenge which must be addressed prior
to widespread commercial applications. In general, they are
susceptible to exposure to oxygen and water vapor which can
cause rapid degradation in devices performance, shortening both
shelf and operational lifetimes. While traditional hermetic sealing
and packaging techniques used by the semiconductor industry
exist, they do not always provide mechanical flexibility or the level
of barrier performance needed to prevent device degradation.
Based on current estimates, packaging of organic electronics will
require barrier coatings and sealing techniques which limit water
permeation rates through the packaging down to levels of 10-4 -
10-6 g/m2/day and oxygen transmission rates less than 10-3 cm3/
m2/day/atm. This becomes extremely challenging when faced
with flexible applications. This is due to the fact that most high
performance barrier materials are made from inorganic coatings
which are inherently brittle and have limited flexibility.
In recent years, researchers at Georgia Tech have been working to
address critical concerns in the development of thin film barrier
coatings and transparent electrodes for organic electronic devices.
Prof. Samuel Graham in the School of Mechanical Engineering,
along with Prof. Bernard Kippelen in the School of Electrical
and Computer Engineering, and Prof. Clifford Henderson in the
School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering have teamed
up to develop a new encapsulation architecture and sealing
techniques for the use in flexible organic electronics. The thin-
film barrier material utilizes a vacuum deposition process in which
a thin layer of SiOx or SiNx is deposited by PECVD at temperatures
near 110 ˚C. Due to the low deposition temperature, the PECVD
film is typically filled with many defects and does not present
itself as a good barrier film. To create the high barrier material,
a second layer consisting of Al2O3 is then deposited on top of
the SiOx or SiNx using ALD, conformally coating the surface and
filling in small defects. This hybrid barrier layer has been shown
to have WVTR rates on the order of 10-5 g/m2/day which is within
the range of required performance for organic electronics. The
films were then used to encapsulate Pentacene/C60 solar cells
and demonstrated shelf lifetimes over 7000 hours without any
significant degradation.
The hybrid film represents an advancement in thin film barrier
processing since it only requires a few deposition steps when
compared to multilayer laminate films typically used by others.
Overall, excellent barrier performance has been achieved while
simplifying the manufacturing processing procedure and time.
Additional success has also been obtained by developing sealing
methods which can be used with lamination to create additional
low cost routes to packaging devices. Current work continues to
investigate additional hybrid architectures and their use along
with the advanced sealing methods to encapsulate OPVs, OLEDs,
OFETs, and, most recently, organic electrochromic windows.
Zeno-based OptoElectronics (ZOE)
by Joseph Perry
The DARPA Zeno-based OptoElectronics (ZOE) program is
performing research on all-optical switching materials and
devices and seeks to enable the development of ultra-low
energy ( <1 femtoJoule) optical switches. The project is an
interdisciplinary, multi-institution effort being led by Joseph
Perry who is the Project Director. Seth Marder and Jean-Luc
Bredas are the other Georgia Tech team members. Researchers
from Cornell University (Michal Lipson and Alex Gaeta), the
University of Washington (Michael Hochberg, Alex Jen and
Larry Dalton), the University of Arizona (Nasser Peyghambarian
and Robert Norwood), the University of California San Diego
(Shaya Fainman), the University of Central Florida (Eric Van
Stryland), and the University of Oxford (Harry Anderson) are
also participating in this program.
(continued on page 8)
All-optical switch concept being developed in DARPA ZOE project. Graphic
courtesy of Alex Gaeta, Cornell University.
7
 Faculty Awards 2010 COPE Fellows
Jean-Luc Brédas
• Named to Inaugural Class of ACS Fellows Avishek Aiyar
Baratunde Cola Advisor: Elsa Reichmanis
• Awarded a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Chemical Engineering
(DARPA) Young Faculty Award Structure-property relations in poly(3-
hexylthiophene) and its impact on charge
Clifford Henderson transport in organic field effect transistors.
• Fellow, Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE)

Elsa Reichmanis
• Named to Inaugural Class of ACS Fellows

Laren Tolbert Anthony Appleton

• Named to Inaugural Class of ACS Fellows Advisor: Uwe Bunz
Chemistry & Biochemistry
Vladimir Tsukruk Synthesis of novel pentacene derivatives
• Fellow, American Physical Society that possess tetraaza core moeities, as
• Humboldt Research Award well as peripheral halogen substitution,
• New member of Editorial Advisory Board, Langmuir in order to achieve an air-stable n-type
• New member of Editorial Advisory Board, ACS Applied Materials semiconducting organic material.
and Interfaces

Student Awards Lauren Hayden

Advisor: Seth Marder
David Collard Group Chemistry & Biochemistry
Kathy Woody Synthesis and characterization of organic
• Recipient of the ACS graduate fellowship in organic chemistry semiconducting oligomers for applications
Rakesh Nambiar in n-type and ambipolar organic field effect
• First Place Graduate Student Research Award, 2009 Student transistors.
Research Symposium

Samuel Graham Group

Roderick Jackson
Min Sang Park
• Recipient of the Young Researcher Award, given for best
Advisor: Mohan Srinivasarao
graduate student oral presentation at the International
Polymer, Textile & Fiber Engineering
Symposium on Flexible Organic Electronics (IS-FOE)
To characterize the mechanism of
Rigoberto Hernandez Group evaporation induced self-assembly of
Gungor Ozer organic electronic polymers, resulting
• Recipient of a Best Poster Award at the Frontiers in in a new paradigm for creating targeted
Macromolecular Simulations Symposium ordered sturctures on surfaces in a simple,
Matthew Hagy controllable, and cost-effective manner.
• Recipient of a Best Poster Award at the GT Homecoming
Research Symposium
(“Zeno-based OptoElectronics (ZOE)”, continued from page 7)
Vladimir Tsukruk Group
Maneesh Gupta The first 18 month phase of the project is underway. The objectives
• SAIC-GT student paper competition – First Place
of the DARPA ZOE project are to: 1) develop a new generation of
Kyle Anderson molecular and semiconductor materials with strong nonlinear
• MSE Research Initiation Award absorptive properties that can be controlled with a unique
pump wavelength, 2) demonstrate all-optical switching using
Graduates molecular and/or semiconductor materials whereby excitation
at one wavelength leads to switching of reflection/transmission
Jean-Luc Brédas Group characteristics for a beam carrying information at another
• Kelly Lancaster, PhD, December 2009 wavelength, and 3) to integrate the materials into scalable
• Shino Ohira, PhD, December 2009 silicon and silicon nitride photonic devices for high-performance
switching and/or wavelength conversion processes. If successful
Samuel Graham Group
in developing ultra-low energy optical switches, the ZOE program
• Namsu Kim, PhD, December 2009
will pave the way for a new generation of optical-switching devices
Seth Marder Group that could have applications in telecommunications and optical
• Xuan Zhang, PhD, December 2009 computing. Many members of our team have previously worked
Joseph Perry Group together in collaborative R&D and have successfully employed an
• San-Hui Chi, PhD, December 2009 approach based on a feedback loop involving design, synthesis,
characterization, and application for development of organic
photonic materials and devices.
8
COPE Programs Center for Interface Science:
Hybrid Solar–Electric Materials
by Neal R. Armstrong

Faculty at the University of Arizona, Georgia Institute of

Technology (including several founding members of COPE),
the University of Washington, and Princeton University,
Mission: To become a nationally and
teaming up with scientists at the National Renewable
internationally recognized center of excellence for
Energy Laboratories (NREL) have recently been awarded a
science of interfaces in photovoltaic devices based
$15M grant from the Department of Energy to form one of
on organic and inorganic nanostructured hybrid
46 national Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC).
materials. Our Center will inspire, recruit, and train
future scientists and leaders in the basic interface
The Center for Interface Science: Hybrid Solar Electric
science of solar electric energy conversion.
Materials will focus on the basic science of solar-to-electric
energy conversion underpinning emerging “Generation University of Arizona
III” photovoltaic platforms, which may be composed • Neal R. Armstrong, Director
of small molecule or polymer active layers, or hybrids • Jeanne E. Pemberton, Assoc. Director–­
of these materials with nanomaterials such as oxide or
Surface Science/Theory
semiconductor nanoparticles. It was selected for this
• S. Scott Saavedra, Assoc. Director, Operations
mission, out of a pool of 260 applications, after a rigorous
application and reviewing process, and is one of 31 EFRC • Dominic McGrath
programs led by universities, the others being led by • Jeff Pyun
national laboratories, non-profit organizations and one • Oliver Monti
corporate research laboratory. Many of the EFRC programs • Robert Norwood
led by universities including this one led by the University • Nasser Peyghambarian
of Arizona, have been funded by ARRA (stimulus) funds,
and will run for five years with an option for competitive Georgia Institute of Technology
renewal for an additional five years. • Seth R. Marder, Associate Director–Materials
• Bernard Kippelen, Associate Director–Device
This group of scientists will specifically focus on the critical Science
interfaces in these technologies which limit their energy • Jean-Luc Brédas
conversion efficiencies, including metal/organic, metal • Samuel Graham
oxide/organic and charge collection and encapsulant
interfaces which currently limit our ability to efficiently National Renewable Energy Laboratory
harvest charge from these devices, and keep them stable • David Ginley, Assoc. Director & DOE Liaison
in robust, inexpensive, “printable” formats. • Dana Olson
• Joseph Berry
This EFRC program has its genesis in research funded by
the National Science Foundation, especially from the University of Washington
Science and Technology Center for Materials and Devices • David Ginger
for Information Technology Research, by the Department • Christine Luscombe
of Defense (Navy and Air Force), by industrial affiliates at
Georgia Tech associated with COPE, and a host of earlier Princeton University
center-like activities involving members of the University • Antoine Kahn
of Arizona and Georgia Tech. It builds extensively on
the analytical tools, theoretical methods, and synthetic
protocols developed in the last fifteen years of research Contact
by these scientists in the area of new materials for Neal R. Armstrong
telecommunications, display, and energy conversion Professor of Chemistry/Optical Sciences
technologies. University of Arizona
nra@email.arizona.edu

9
New Publications
Linear ripples and traveling circular ripples produced on polymers by thermal
AFM probes. Gnecco, Enrico; Riedo, Elisa; King, William P.; Marder, Seth R. and
Szoszkiewicz, Robert. PHYSICAL REVIEW B. 79, 35421 (2009).
Quasi 2-D Field Reconstruction Using the ConjointrnCylindrical Wave Expansion.
Pirkl, Ryan J. and Durgin, Gregory D. IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND
PROPAGATION. 57, 1095-1104 (2009).
High resolution negative tone molecular resist based on di-functional epoxide
polymerization. Lawson, Richard A.; Lee, Cheng-Tsung; Tolbert, Laren M.;
Younkin, Todd R. and Henderson, Clifford L. MICROELECTRONIC ENGINEERING.
86, 734-737 (2009).
Effect of acid anion on the behavior of single component molecular resists
incorporating ionic photoacid generators. Lawson, Richard A.; Lee, Cheng-
Tsung;Tolbert, Laren M. and Henderson, Clifford L. MICROELECTRONIC
ENGINEERING. 86,738-740 (2009).
Cancellation of environmental effects in resonant mass sensors based on
resonance mode and effective mass. Naeli, Kianoush and Brand, Oliver. REVIEW
OF SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS. 80 (2009).
Mesoscale simulation of molecular resists: The effect of PAG distribution
homogeneity on LER. Lawson, Richard A. and Henderson, Clifford L.
MICROELECTRONIC ENGINEERING. 86, 741-744 (2009).
De novo identification of binding sequences for antibody replacement
molecules. Quirk, Stephen; Zhong, Shi and Hernandez, Rigoberto. PROTEINS-
STRUCTURE FUNCTION AND BIOINFORMATICS. 76, 693-705 (2009).
The kinetics of incongruent reduction of tungsten carbide via reaction with a
hafnium-copper melt. Liu, Yajun; Lipke, David W.; Zhang, Yunshu and Sandhage,
Kenneth H. ACTA MATERIALIA. 57, 3924-3931 (2009).
Doping Molecular Wires. Heimel, Georg; Zojer, Egbert; Romaner, Lorenz; Bredas,
Jean-Luc and Stellacci, Francesco. NANO LETTERS. 9, 2559-2564 (2009)
45 Degree Polymer Micromirror Integration for B Three-Dimensional Optical
Interconnects. Wang, Fengtao; Liu, Fuhan and Adibi, Ali. OPTICS EXPRESS.
17,10514-10521 (2009).
Diffusion in a nonequilibrium binary mixture of hard sphere at different rates.
Popov, Alexander V. and Hernandez, Rigoberto. JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL
PHYSICS. 131 (2009).
Oscillations in meta-generalized-gradient approximation potential energy
surfaces for dispersion-bound complexes. Johnson, Erin R.; Becke, Axel
D.;Sherrill, C. David and DiLabio, Gino A. JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL PHYSICS. 131
(2009)
Revisiting the Spread Spectrum Sliding Correlator: Why Filtering Matters.
Pirkl, Ryan J. and Durgin, Gregory D. IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON WIRELESS
COMMUNICATIONS. 8, 3454-3457 (2009).
Electrospinning Physical Gels: The Case of Stereocomplex PMMA. Crne,
Matija;Park, Jung Ok and Srinivasarao, Mohan. MACROMOLECULES. 42, 4353-
4355 (2009).
Preparation and Characterization of 4 `-Donor S Stilbene-4-thiolate Monolayers
and Their Influence on the Work Function of Gold. Malicki, Michal; Guan, Zelei;
Ha, Sieu D.; Heimel, Barlow, Stephen; Rumi, Mariacristina; Kahn, Antoine and
Marder, Seth R. LANGMUIR. 25, 7967-7975 (2009).
Pentacene organic field-effect transistors with polymeric dielectric interfaces:
Performance and stability. Zhang, Mao-Hong; Tiwari, Shree Prakash and
Kippelen, Bernard. ORGANIC ELECTRONICS. 10, 1133-1140 (2009).
High Quality Planar Silicon Nitride Microdisk Resonators for Integrated
Photonics in the Visible Wavelength Range. Hosseini, Ehsan Shah;
Yegnanarayanan, Siva;Atabaki, Amir Hossein; Soltani, Mohammad and Adibi, Ali.
OPTICS EXPRESS. 17,14543-14551 (2009).
Triplet Excimer Formation in Platinum-Based Phosphors: A Theoretical Study
of the Roles of Pt-Pt Bimetallic Interactions and Interligand pi-pi Interactions.
Kim, Dongwook and Bredas, Jean-Luc. JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL
SOCIETY. 131, 11371-11380 (2009).
Synthesis, Spectroscopy, Nonlinear Optics, and Theoretical Investigations of
Thienylethynyl Octopoles with a Tunable Core. Moreno Oliva, Maria; Casado,
Juan;Lopez Navarrete, Juan T.; Hennrich, Gunther; van Cleuvenbergen, Stijn;
Asselberghs, Inge; Clays, Koen; Delgado, M. Carmen Ruiz; Bredas, Jean-Luc;
Seixas de Melo, J. Sergioand De Cola, Luisa. CHEMISTRY-A EUROPEAN JOURNAL.
15, 8223-8234 (2009).
Charge photogeneration in polythiophene-perylene diimide blend films.
Shoaee, Safa; An, Zesheng; Zhang, Xuan; Barlow, Stephen; Marder, Seth R.;
Duffy, Warren;Heeney, Martin; McCulloch, Iain and Durrant, James R. CHEMICAL
COMMUNICATIONS. 5445-5447, (2009).
The Molecular Basis of Nacre Formation. Kroeger, Nils. SCIENCE. 325, 1351-1352
(2009)
Planar photonic crystal microspectrometers in silicon-nitride for the visible
range. Momeni, Babak; Hosseini, Ehsan Shah and Adibi, Ali. OPTICS EXPRESS.
17,17060-17069 (2009).
Norbornene-Based Copolymers Containing Platinum Complexes and
Bis(carbazolyl)benzene Groups in Their Side-Chains. Feng, Ke; Zuniga,
Carlos;Zhang, Ya-Dong; Kim, Dongwook; Barlow, Stephen; Marder, Seth R.;
Bredas, Jean-Luc and Weck, Marcus. MACROMOLECULES. 42, 6855-6864 (2009).
Use of a High Electron-Affinity Molybdenum Dithiolene Complex to p-Dope
Hole-Transport Layers. Qi, Yabing; Sajoto, Tissa; Barlow, Stephen; Kim, Eung-
Gun;Bredas, Jean-Luc; Marder, Seth R. and Kahn, Antoine. JOURNAL OF THE
AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY. 131, 12530 (2009)
An Assessment of Theoretical Methods for Nonbonded Interactions:
Comparison to Complete Basis Set Limit Coupled-Cluster Potential Energy
Curves for the Benzene Dimer, the Methane Dimer, Benzene-Methane, and
Benzene-H2S. Sherrill, C. David; Takatani, Tait and Hohenstein, Edward G.
JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY A. 113, 10146-10159 (2009)
Room-temperature discotic liquid-crystalline coronene diimides exhibiting
high charge-carrier mobility in air. An, Zesheng; Yu, Junsheng; Domercq,
Benoit; Jones, Simon C.; Barlow, Stephen; Kippelen, Bernard and Marder, Seth R.
JOURNAL OF MATERIALS CHEMISTRY. 19, 6688-6698 (2009).
Controlling the directional emission of holey organic microlasers. Djellali,
N.;Gozhyk, I.; Owens, D.; Lozenko, S.; Lebental, M.; Lautru, J.; Ulysse, C.; Kippelen,
B. and Zyss, J. APPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS. 95, 101108 (2009).
Effect of Stress Due to Plastic Package Moisture Absorption in Hall Sensors.
Cesaretti, J. M.; Taylor, W. P.; Monreal, G. and Brand, O. IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON
MAGNETICS. 45, 4482-4485 (2009)
Conditions for primitive-lattice-vector-direction equal contrasts in four-beam-
interference lithography. Stay, Justin L. and Gaylord, Thomas K. APPLIED
OPTICS. 48, 4801-4813 (2009).
Accurate cross-sectional stress profiling of optical fibers. Hutsel, Michael
R.;Ingle, Reeve and Gaylord, Thomas K.. APPLIED OPTICS. 48, 4985-4995 (2009).
High Energy Density Nanocomposites Based on Surface-Modified BaTiO3
and a Ferroelectric Polymer. Kim, Philseok; Doss, Natalie M.; Tillotson, John P.;
Hotchkiss, Peter J.; Pan, Ming-Jen; Marder, Seth R.; Li, Jiangyu; Calame, Jeffery P.
and Perry, Joseph W. ACS NANO. 3, 2581-2592 (2009).
Layer-By-Layer Dendritic Growth of Hyperbranched Thin Films for Surface
Sol-Gel Syntheses of Conformal, Functional, Nanocrystalline Oxide Coatings
on Complex 3D (Bio)silica Templates. Wang, Guojie; Fang, Yunnan; Kim,
Philseok;Hayek, Ali; Weatherspoon, Michael R.; Perry, Joseph W.; Sandhage,
Kenneth H.; Marder, Seth R. and Jones, Simon C. ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL
MATERIALS. 19, 2768-2776 (2009).
Influence of Intermolecular Vibrations on the Electronic Coupling in Organic
Semiconductors: The Case of Anthracene and Perfluoropentacene. Martinelli,
Nicolas G.; Olivier, Yoann; Athanasopoulos, Stavros; Delgado, Mari-Carmen Ruiz;
Pigg, Kathryn R.; da Silva Filho, Demetrio A.; Sanchez-Carrera, Roel S.; Venuti,
Elisabetta;Della Valle, Raffaele G.; Bredas, Jean-Luc; Beljonne, David and Cornil,
Jerome. CHEMPHYSCHEM. 10, 2265-2273 (2009).
Area-scaling of organic solar cells. Choi, Seungkeun; Potscavage, Jr., William J.
andKippelen, Bernard. JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS. 106 (2009).
Study of electrical performance and stability of solution-processed n-channel
organic field-effect transistors. Tiwari, Shree Prakash; Zhang, Xiao-
Hong;Potscavage, Jr., William J. and Kippelen, Bernard. JOURNAL OF APPLIED
PHYSICS. 106 (2009).
Assessment of Standard Force Field Models Against High-Quality Ab Initio
Potential Curves for Prototypes of pi-pi, CH/pi, and SH/pi Interactions. Sherrill,
C. David; Sumpter, Bobby G.; Sinnokrot, Mutasem O.; Marshall, Michael
S.; Hohenstein, Edward G.; Walker, Ross C. and Gould, Ian R. JOURNAL OF
COMPUTATIONAL CHEMISTRY. 30, 2187-2193 (2009).
Photophysical Properties of an Alkyne-Bridged Bis(zinc porphyrin)-Perylene
Bis(dicarboximide) Derivative. Odom, Susan A.; Kelley, Richard F.; Ohira,
Shino;Ensley, Trenton R.; Huang, Chun; Padilha, Lazaro A.; Webster, Scott;
10
Coropceanu, Veaceslav; Barlow, Stephen; Hagan, David J.; Van Stryland, Eric W.;
Bredas, Jean-Luc;Anderson, Harry L.; Wasielewski, Michael R. and Marder, Seth R.
JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY A. 113, 10826-10832 (2009).
Molecular design for improved photovoltaic efficiency: band gap and absorption
coefficient engineering. Mondal, Rajib; Ko, Sangwon; Norton, Joseph E.; Miyaki,
Nobuyuki; Becerril, Hector A.; Verploegen, Eric; Toney, Michael F.; Bredas, Jean-
Luc;McGehee, Michael D. and Bao, Zhenan. JOURNAL OF MATERIALS CHEMISTRY.
19, 7195-7197 (2009).
Charge transport in oligo phenylene and phenylene-thiophene nanofibers.
Kjelstrup-Hansen, Jakob; Norton, Joseph E.; da Silva Filho, Demetrio A.; Bredas,
Jean-Luc and Rubahn, Horst-Gunter. ORGANIC ELECTRONICS. 10, 1228-1234
(2009).
Themed issue: nonlinear optics. The evolving field of nonlinear optics-a personal
perspective. Marder, Seth R. JOURNAL OF MATERIALS CHEMISTRY. 19,7392-7393
(2009).
Third-harmonic generation and its applications in optical image processing.
Fuentes-Hernandez, Canek; Ramos-Ortiz, Gabriel; Tseng, Shuo-Yen; Gaj, Michael
P. and Kippelen, Bernard. JOURNAL OF MATERIALS CHEMISTRY. 19, 7394-7401
(2009).
Porphyrin dimers: A theoretical understanding of the impact of electronic
coupling strength on the two-photon absorption properties. Ohira, Shino
andBredas, Jean-Luc. JOURNAL OF MATERIALS CHEMISTRY. 19, 7545-7550 (2009).
Metalloporphyrin polymer with temporally agile, broadband nonlinear
absorption for optical limiting in the near infrared. Hales, Joel M.; Cozzuol,
Matteo; Screen, Thomas E. O.; Anderson, Harry L. and Perry, Joseph W. OPTICS
EXPRESS. 17, 18478-18488 (2009).
Hindered rolling and friction anisotropy in supported carbon nanotubes. Lucas,
Marcel; Zhang, Xiaohua; Palaci, Ismael; Klinke, Christian; Tosatti, Erio and Riedo,
Elisa. NATURE MATERIALS. 8, 876-881 (2009).
Quantum Dynamics of the Excited-State Intramolecular Proton Transfer in 2-(2
`-Hydroxyphenyl)benzothiazole. Kim, Justin; Wu, Yinghua; Bredas, Jean-Luc
andBatista, Victor S. ISRAEL JOURNAL OF CHEMISTRY. 49, 187-197 (2009).
Nondestructive In Situ Identification of Crystal Orientation of Anisotropic ZnO
Nanostructures. Singamaneni, Srikanth; Gupta, Maneesh; Yang, Rusen; Tomczak,
Melanie M.; Naik, Rajesh R.; Wang, Zhong L. and Tsukruk, Vladimir V. ACS NANO.
3, 2593-2600 (2009).
Biocatalysis: Unmasked by stretching. Kharlampieva, Eugenia and Tsukruk,
Vladimir V. NATURE MATERIALS. 8, 704-705 (2009).
Synthesis and Properties of Amphiphilic Poly(1,4-Phenylene Ethynylene)s Bearing
Alkyl and Semifluoroalkyl Substituents. Woody, Kathy B.; Nambiar, Rakesh;
Brizius, Glen L. and Collard, David M. MACROMOLECULES. 42, 8102-8111 (2009).
Electronic structure of self-assembled (fluoro)methylthiol monolayers on the
Au(111) surface: Impact of fluorination and coverage density. Li, Hong; Duan,
Yiqun; Paramonov, Pavel; Coropceanu, Veaceslav and Bredas, Jean-Luc. JOURNAL
OF ELECTRON SPECTROSCOPY AND RELATED PHENOMENA. 174, 70-77 (2009).
Alkynylated Aceno[2,1,3]thiadiazoles. Appleton, Anthony Lucas; Miao,
Shaobin;Brombosz, Scott M.; Berger, Nancy J.; Barlow, Stephen; Marder, Seth R.;
Lawrence, Brian M.; Hardcastle, Kenneth I. and Bunz, Uwe H. F. ORGANIC LETTERS.
11, 5222-5225 (2009).
Exciton-Dissociation and Charge-Recombination Processes in Pentacene/C-60
Solar Cells: Theoretical Insight into the Impact of Interface Geometry. Yi,
Yuanping; Coropceanu, Veaceslav and Bredas, Jean-Luc. JOURNAL OF THE
AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY. 131, 15777-15783 (2009).
Bimetallic Nanostructures as Active Raman Markers: Gold-Nanoparticle Assembly
on 1D and 2D Silver Nanostructure Surfaces. Gunawidjaja, Ray; Kharlampieva,
Eugenia; Choi, Ikjun and Tsukruk, Vladimir V. SMALL. 5, 2460-2466 (2009).
Electron Transfer-Induced Blinking in Ag Nanodot Fluorescence. Patel, Sandeep
A.; Cozzuol, Matteo; Hales, Joel M.; Richards, Chris I.; Sartin, Matthew; Hsiang,
Jung-Cheng; Vosch, Tom; Perry, Joseph W. and Dickson, Robert M. JOURNAL OF
PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY C. 113, 20264-20270 (2009).
Surface force spectroscopic point load measurements and viscoelastic modelling
of the micromechanical properties of air flow sensitive hairs of a spider
(Cupiennius salei). McConney, Michael E.; Schaber, Clemens F.; Julian, Michael D.;
Eberhardt, William C.; Humphrey, Joseph A. C.; Barth, Friedrich G. and Tsukruk,
Vladimir V. JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY INTERFACE. 6, 681-694 (2009).
Conjugated polymer-fullerene blend with strong optical limiting in the near-
infrared. Chi, San-Hui; Hales, Joel M.; Cozzuol, Matteo and Ochoa, Charles;
Fitzpatrick, Madison and Perry, Joseph W. OPTICS EXPRESS. 17, 22062-22072
(2009).
Critical Interfaces in Organic Solar Cells and Their Influence on the Open-
Circuit Voltage. Potscavage, Jr., William J. ; Sharma, Asha and Kippelen, Bernard.
ACCOUNTS OF CHEMICAL RESEARCH. 42, 1758-1767 (2009).
Potential Energy Curves for Cation-pi Interactions: Off-Axis Configurations Are
Also Attractive. Marshall, Michael S.; Steele, Ryan P.; Thanthiriwatte, Kanchana S.
and Sherrill, C. David. JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY A.113, 13528-13532
(2009).
Molecular Understanding of Organic Solar Cells: The Challenges. Bredas, Jean-Luc;
Norton, Joseph E.; Cornil, Jerome and Coropceanu, Veaceslav. ACCOUNTS OF
CHEMICAL RESEARCH. 42, 1691-1699 (2009).
Linear and Nonlinear Spectroscopy of a Porphyrin-Squaraine-Porphyrin
Conjugated System. Webster, Scott; Odom, Susan A.; Padilha, Lazaro A.;
Przhonska, Olga V.; Peceli, Davorin; Hu, Honghua; Nootz, Gero; Kachkovski, Alexei
D.; Matichak, Jonathan; Barlow, Stephen; Anderson, Harry L.; Marder, Seth R.;
Hagan, David J. and Van Stryland, Eric W. JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY B.
113, 14854-14867 (2009).
Conjugated polymer-fullerene blend with strong optical limiting in the near-
infrared. Chi, San-Hui; Hales, Joel M.; Cozzuol, Matteo; Ochoa, Charles; Fitzpatrick,
Madison and Perry, Joseph W. OPTICS EXPRESS.17, 22062-22072 (2009).
Electronic structure of the pentacene-gold interface: A density-functional theory
study. Li, Hong; Duan, Yiqun; Coropceanu, Veaceslav and Bredas, Jean-Luc.
ORGANIC ELECTRONICS. 10, 1571-1578 (2009).
Protein-Mediated Layer-by-Layer Syntheses of Freestanding Microscale Titania
Structures with Biologically Assembled 3-D Morphologies. Fang, Yunnan;
Wu, Qingzhong; Dickerson, Matthew B.; Cai, Ye; Shian, Samuel; Berrigan, John
D.; Poulsen, Nicole; Kroeger, Nils and Sandhage, Kenneth H. CHEMISTRY OF
MATERIALS. 21, 5704-5710 (2009).
Modification of the Surface Properties of Indium Tin Oxide with
Benzylphosphonic Acids: A Joint Experimental and Theoretical Study. Hotchkiss,
Peter J.; Li, Hong; Paramonov, Pavel B.; Paniagua, Sergio A.; Jones, Simon C.;
Armstrong, Neal R.; Bredas, Jean-Luc and Marder, Seth R. ADVANCED MATERIALS.
21, 4496+ (2009).
Direct writing and characterization of poly(p-phenylene vinylene) nanostructures.
Wang, Debin; Kim, Suenne; Underwood, II, William D.; Giordano, Anthony J.;
Henderson, Clifford L.; Dai, Zhenting; King, William P.; Marder, Seth R. and Riedo,
Elisa. APPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS. 95 (2009).
Low-voltage solution-processed n-channel organic field-effect transistors with
high-k HfO2 gate dielectrics grown by atomic layer deposition. Tiwari, Shree
Prakash; Zhang, Xiao-Hong; Potscavage, Jr., William J. and Kippelen, Bernard.
APPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS. 95, (2009).
Multiplex coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (MCARS) for chemically
sensitive, label-free flow cytometry. Camp, Jr., Charles H.; Yegnanarayanan, Siva;
Eftekhar, Ali A.; Sridhar, Hamsa and Adibi, Ali. OPTICS EXPRESS. 17, 22879-22889
(2009).
Negative tone molecular resists using cationic polymerization: Comparison
of epoxide and oxetane functional groups. Lawson, Richard A.; Noga, David
E.; Younkin, Todd R.; Tolbert, Laren M. and Henderson, Clifford L. JOURNAL OF
VACUUM SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY B. 27, 2998-3003 (2009).
Bond contribution model for the prediction of glass transition temperature in
polyphenol molecular glass resists. Lawson, Richard A.; Yeh, Wei-Ming; Henderson,
Clifford L. JOURNAL OF VACUUM SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY B. 27, 3004-3009
(2009).
Low-voltage pentacene organic field-effect transistors with high-kappa HfO2 gate
dielectrics and high stability under bias stress. Zhang, Xiao-Hong ; Tiwari, Shree
Prakash; Kim, Sung-Jin and Kippelen, Bernard. APPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS. 95
(2009).
Thermochemical Nanolithography of Multifunctional a Nanotemplates for
Assembling Nano-objects. Wang, Debin; Kodali, Vamsi K.; Underwood, II, William
D.; Jarvholm, Jonas E.; Okada, Takashi; Jones, Simon C.; Rumi, Mariacristina; Dai,
Zhenting; King, William P.; Marder, Seth R.; Curtis, Jennifer E. and Riedo, Elisa.
ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS. 19, 3696-3702 (2009).
Assessment of stress contributions in GaN high electron mobility transistors of
differing substrates using Raman spectroscopy. Beechem, Thomas; Christensen,
Adam; Green, D. S. and Graham, Samuel. JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS. 106
(2009).
11
Directory (Management & Faculty)
Name Title Department Email Office

Adibi, Ali Professor ECE ali.adibi@ece.gatech.edu BH 105
Bidstrup Allen, Sue Ann Professor ChBE sue.allen@carnegie.gatech.edu ES&T 1370
Brand, Oliver Associate Professor ECE oliver.brand@ece.gatech.edu MIRC 219
Brédas, Jean-Luc Director of Intl. Programs, Regents' Professor Chem & Biochem jean-luc.bredas@chemistry.gatech.edu MoSE 2100M
Brédas, Véronique Program Support Manager Chem & Biochem veronique.bredas@chemistry.gatech.edu MoSE 1100P
Bunz, Uwe Professor Chem & Biochem uwe.bunz@chemistry.gatech.edu MoSE 1282
Chang, GK Professor ECE geekung.chang@ece.gatech.edu Centergy 5120
Cola, Baratunde Assistant Professor ME baratunde.cola@me.gatech.edu MRDC 2207
Collard, David Professor Chem & Biochem david.collard@chemistry.gatech.edu MoSE 2100J
Durgin, Gregory Assistant Professor ECE gregory.durgin@ece.gatech.edu   VL E511
Gaylord, Tom Regents’ Professor ECE tom.gaylord@ece.gatech.edu VL W419
Graham, Samuel Associate Professor ME sam.graham@me.gatech.edu   Love 339
Henderson, Cliff Associate Professor ChBE cliff.henderson@chbe.gatech.edu ES&T 1226
Hernandez, Rigoberto Associate Professor Chem & Biochem rigoberto.hernandez@chemistry.gatech.edu MoSE 2100L
Hunt, Bill Professor ECE bill.hunt@ece.gatech.edu MIRC 221
Kippelen, Bernard Associate Director, Professor ECE kippelen@ece.gatech.edu   MoSE 4239
Kroger, Nils Assistant Professor Chem & Biochem nils.kroger@chemistry.gatech.edu MoSE 2100P
Marder, Seth Director, Professor Chem & Biochem seth.marder@chemistry.gatech.edu   MoSE 1100M
Martin, Jason Director of Marketing & Communications Chem & Biochem jason.martin@chemistry.gatech.edu MoSE 1278
Perry, Joseph Associate Director, Professor Chem & Biochem joe.perry@chemistry.gatech.edu   MoSE G209B
Reichmanis, Elsa Professor ChBE elsa.reichmanis@chbe.gatech.edu ES&T 1230
Riedo, Elisa Assistant Professor Physics elisa.riedo@physics.gatech.edu   Howey N107
Sandhage, Ken B. Mifflin Hood Professor MSE ken.sandhage@mse.gatech.edu MoSE 3100L
Sherrill, David Professor Chem & Biochem david.sherrill@chemistry.gatech.edu MoSE 2100N
Srinivasarao, Mohan Professor Chem & Biochem mohan.srinivasarao@ptfe.gatech.edu MRDC 1 4506
Tolbert, Laren Regents' Professor Chem & Biochem laren.tolbert@chemistry.gatech.edu MoSE 1100L
Tsukruk, Vladimir Professor MSE vladimir@mse.gatech.edu MoSE 4100K
Zhang, John Professor Chem & Biochem john.zhang@chemistry.gatech.edu MoSE 1100N

Research Capabilities
Broadband Transient Absorption Spectroscopy • UV/VIS/NIR spectrophotometry
• Monitoring of transient changes in optical properties to provide • Spectrofluorimetry
broadband spectral information (300 nm – 1.7 µm) and ultrafast • FT-IR spectrometry
temporal resolution (from milliseconds down to femtoseconds) • Electrochemistry
• Evaluation of the charge-transfer/recombination kinetics in • Thermogravimetric analysis
potential photovoltaic materials • Thermal analysis of materials using differential scanning calorimeter
• Generation of non-linear absorption spectra of target organic (Q200, TA Instruments)
materials that could be used in all-optical signal processing • Gas permeation chromatography for the measurement of molecular
applications weights and molecular weight distributions of polymers

Nonlinear Optical Spectroscopy Surface Analysis

• Femtosecond-pulsed Z-scan and degenerate four-wave mixing for
absolute determination of third-order optical nonlinearities
• Determination of molecular nonlinearities as a function of chemical
structure variation
Microfabrication
• Patterning of materials with true three-dimensional (3D) spatial
resolution including photonic crystals, microchannel and
microfluidic devices, and biocompatible templates
Material Synthesis and Purification
• Wet chemistry laboratory covering over 2000 sq ft, including 25
fume hoods, and containing state-of-the-art equipment
Physical, Chemical, and Optical Material Characterization
• Gas chromatograph-mass spectrometry
• High-pressure liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry
• FT-IR characterization techniques that are surface-sensitive
or suitable for thin film analysis. Specular reflectance, diffuse
reflectance, attenuated total reflectance, grazing angle specular
reflectance
• Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) techniques using an Agilent
5600LS for the characterization of surface properties through a
wide range of topography including: in contact or tapping mode,
scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), lateral force microscopy
(LFM), electric force microscopy (EFM), Kelvin force microscopy,
piezo-force microscopy; fluid immersed imaging and for
electrochemical microscopy of samples; and nanolithogrpahy via
closed-loop scanner
• X-ray photoelectron spectrometry (XPS) using an Axis Ultra
HSA, Kratos, characterized by high-energy resolution and high
sensitivity, for the determination of elemental composition of
surfaces with surface mapping capabilities and an integrated
ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS) unit
12
Director’s Note Upcoming

Happy New Year to you.

Events & Activities
2010 promises to be an
exciting new year for the
Georgia Tech Center for
February 23, 2010 COPE Seminar Series
MoSE Building Dr. David Bucknall of the School
Organic Photonics and
G011 of Polymer, Textile, and Fiber
Electronics, COPE. Of Engineering (PTFE) at Georgia Tech
primary importance, I
would like to announce
a leadership transition April 14, 2010 COPE Seminar Series
in which my colleague, MoSE Building Dr. Michael Bendikov of the
Professor Bernard Kippelen, will be assuming the G011 Weizmann Institute of Science
position as the Director of COPE later this year.
As the change in leadership involves a shift of
certain administrative functions between not only
departments, but colleges, I will serve with Bernard as
April 21, 2010 COPE Seminar Series
MoSE Building Dr. Jeanne Pemberton of the
co-Director for the next several months, to ensure that
G011 University of Arizona
the process moves forward smoothly.

As many of you know, COPE was founded in 2003 and

I had the honor to serve as its founding Director. In May 6-7, 2010 4th Solvay-COPE Symposium
the past six or so years, COPE has accomplished many IMEC on Organic Electronics
things, but I am most proud of it staying true to its core Leuven, Belgium This by invitation only event
values of supporting excellence in research, embracing showcases the work being done by
and promoting diversity, creating an educational and COPE faculty, students, staff, and
research environment that encourages interdisciplinary global partners.
and collaborative interactions, and ensuring that
breakthroughs mean more than well cited papers.
COPE now has over 20 faculty members from 8 schools,
and I have been very privileged and grateful to serve
them and Georgia Tech in my capacity as founding Credits
Director.
Editors: Stephen Barlow
Jean-Luc Brédas
Georgia Tech’s selection of Bernard Kippelen as the Bernard Kippelen
next Director of COPE, is a recognition of not only his Seth Marder
many scientific contributions to the area of organic Jason Martin
electronics and photonics, but also his commitment Joe Perry
Mariacristina Rumi
to the core values I alluded to above. Bernard brings
Content Coordinator: Véronique Brédas
to COPE a tremendous amount of vision, energy and Design & Production: Jason Martin
experience and I very much look forward to working
closely with him and the greater COPE community in
the years to come.
For more information visit us at:
www.cope.gatech.edu
Sincerely,

Seth R. Marder
Director of COPE

Center for Organic Photonics & Electronics

Georgia Institute of Technology
Molecular Science & Engineering Building
901 Atlantic Drive
Atlanta, GA 30332-0400