Synthesising Conductive Organic Materials for Energy Devices

One of the contemporary challenges facing synthetic chemists is to design materials that help us overcome the energy crisis. This PhD project aims to develop conductive organic materials to improve the performance of organic photovoltaics and lightweight solid-state batteries. Specifically, this project aims to develop ionic liquid crystal mesogens whose semiconductivity persists across transitions between different phases of matter, allowing for processing as a liquid and use as a liquid crystal or solid. The student will design and synthesise new organic compounds and probe their conductivities as part of photovoltaic and lithium-ion battery device prototypes.