Developing brightly luminescent metal complexes

The project aims to create new materials and devices that emit light brightly, particularly in the deep-red or near-infrared (NIR) regions of the spectrum. It will explore strategies for circumventing the so-called "energy gap law" - the trend for materials to emit light less efficiently as the energy of the light decreases. Key to the project will be the design and synthesis of new phosphorescent materials that emit efficiently from low-energy triplet states, exploiting the spin-orbit coupling and excimer-forming properties of square-planar metal complexes.

The work will involve synthetic organic and inorganic chemistry to produce new ligands for subsequent complexation to metal ions such as platinum and palladium. Typically, upon successful isolation and purification of the materials, their excited-state properties will be investigated using a combination of absorption and steady-state / time-resolved emission spectoscopies. Photoluminescence measurements in solution will be complemented, where appropriate, by tests in host matrices and - in partnership with collaborators in Durham Physics - by electroluminescence studies in solution-processed devices. The performance of the materials will be rationalised with the aid of density functional theory calculations and electrochemical measurements.