Mark Thompson, Ph.D. - US grants

The proposed research may be nominally divided into two parts. The first area is concerned with the synthesis and study of layered phosphonates. The chemistry outlined is a mixture of synthetic chemistry and solid-state NMR. The second area is concerned with synthesis and study of layered systems for light induced charge separation or electron transfer. The proposed studies have important relevance in many fields of science and engineering.

The faculty of the Electrical & Computer Engineering Department, in conjunction with the physics faculty in the Science & Mathematics Department, at GMI Engineering & Management Institute (GMI-EMI) have recognized the need for upgrading the electronics curriculum to include more comprehensive coverage of solid state materials and devices. To this end, a course Solid State Devices, was added to the curriculum to provide undergraduates with a workable theoretical background in the field. Through this project, GMI-EMI adds a laboratory component to the course. Such a supplement enhances understanding by providing a hands-on !earning environment where students can practice the science of solid state device characterization and correlate their observations with well established theories. Specifically, the solid state materials and device curriculum component at GMI-EMI is enhanced by adding experimental investigations in the areas of: 1. Fundamental semiconductor transport parameters; 2. Deep energy impurity levels; 3.P-N junction device characterization; and 4. MOS device characterization. The proposed experiments are intended to foster a depth of understanding, an appreciation for theoretical models, a sense of practicality, and an element of interest, excitement and enthusiasm among students. The major equipment purchased includes current sources, electrometers, capacitance meter, monochromator, cryostats, and microcomputer hardware/software for instrument control and data acquisition. This equipment facilitates dynamic laboratory investigations and promotes clear conceptual understanding for the students.

9803995 Thompson This summer program in solid state chemistry for undergraduate students and college faculty will provide an interdisciplinary forum for learning about recent advances in the area of solid- state chemistry which will include the impact of materials synthesis, development and application, and direct research experience in selected solid-state chemical areas. Integrating the concepts and techniques of solid-state chemistry with the well established and full curriculum of chemistry based upon molecular concepts will continue to be a goal of the solid-state chemistry summer program. Selected students and teachers will be offered opportunities to interact with internationally known solid state chemists from various universities and industries through a program of tutorials, site-visits, and summer research. They will devote the summer period to tutorials on solid state chemistry, and research on individual projects will be conducted by the participants in university and industrial laboratories across the U.S. The results of these efforts will be presented by each participant in a final symposium. %%% The scope and importance of solid-state chemistry is increasingly recognized among students, university faculty and industrial scientists not only because of the discovery of new classes of materials of high technological relevance, but also because of a deeper fundamental understanding of the diverse properties of solids that is made possible by the availability modern techniques. Contributions to solid-state chemistry are now made by researchers active in multidisciplinary areas of research that include materials science and engineering, chemistry, chemical engineering, physics, and mineralogy/geology. ***

This research project is funded in response to the Nanoscale Science and Engineering Initiative, NSF 01-157, category NIRT. Nanorobotics is concerned with (1) manipulation of nanoscale objects by using micro or macro devices, and (2) construction, control and programming of robots with overall dimensions at the nanoscale (or with microscopic dimensions but nanoscopic components). This project covers both of these aspects, because both are important: nanomanipulation is the most effective process developed until now for prototyping of nanosystems, and nanorobots with dimensions comparable to those of biological cells are expected to have revolutionary applications in environmental monitoring and health care-for example, in the early detection and destruction of pathogens. The initial research will be biased towards manipulation, with a focus on the automation of techniques developed in previous NSF grants for reliable and accurate nanomanipulation by using the tip of a Scanning Probe Microscope (SPM) as a sensory robot. Work on nanorobot construction will begin at a low level but increase as the project evolves. It will integrate research on sensors, actuators, control, power, communications, and interfacing across spatial scales and between organic/inorganic as well as biotic/abiotic systems.

The theoretical and experimental results of this work will contribute to the understanding of robotics in domains with large spatial uncertainties, and to the development of NEMS (Nanoelectromechanical Systems). The software will be widely distributed and will be very useful to scientists and engineers working in nanomanipulation and nanolithography. The project will involve students at all levels, from postdocs to minority high-school students, who will be exposed to this new and interdisciplinary field. The research will be further coupled to education through conference tutorials and new, regular university courses. For example, a graduate course in nanorobotics offered in the Spring semester of 2002 will evolve by incorporating the research findings of the project, and a tutorial based on the course will be offered at the 2002 IEEE conference on nanotechnology.

A collaborative effort between Indian River Community College and the Martin County School District, Project CAPSTONE seeks to create and implement an interdisciplinary, project-based model to prepare high school students for technical careers. Based at the Clark Advanced Learning Center (CALC), a joint high school/college facility in South Florida, the CAPSTONE project can potentially serve as a model for providing exemplary technician-related curricular and practical experiences to high school students. Over the course of three years, 200 high school juniors and seniors are directly served by the project. Activities include the development of integrated math, science and technology curriculum; the creation of industry relevant technical experiences that develop career pathways; improvement and enhancement of high school programming that articulates to associate degrees; and provision of relevant professional development experiences for CALC teachers. By partnering with the South Florida Water Management District, the project utilizes a school-wide project focused on local restoration efforts to develop student learning in mathematics, science and technology. Career pathways are supported through e-mentoring with industry professionals as well as student internships with the Martin County business community.

A grant has been awarded under the NSF's MRI program to the University of Southern California under the supervision of Dr. Richard W. Roberts and Dr. Mark Thompson. Funds from this grant will be used to purchase a 600 MHz NMR spectrometer that will be accessible to all departments at USC. Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy (also known as NMR) is arguably the most versatile technique available for studying molecules. This instrument will allow scientists at USC to determine the structures and movements of molecules with detail down to less than 1 billionth of a meter, a nanometer. As such, this instrument will have a major positive impact on USC's scientific goals in the areas of 1. Biomedical Nanoscience, 2. Imaging, and 3. Energy. In particular, the instrument will be used 1) to determine the structures of biological molecules (DNA, RNA and proteins) needed for basic research, new therapies, and diagnostics, 2) to examine the motions of biological molecules, 3) to measure the interactions of drugs and drug-like molecules with their therapeutic targets, 4) to study chemical reactions in great detail, and 5) to explore new chemical methods and materials relevant to energy production.

Prior to this grant, USC lacked a modern biomolecular NMR in an open user facility. The first impact of this instrument will thus be to provide a new training and research tool for user groups involved in this project. This includes 18 faculty, 14 undergraduates, 104 graduate students and 54 postdocs across 6 academic departments and 5 schools within USC. Second, this grant will enable establishing a general structural biology colloquia at USC integrating this instrument (NMR) with other methods used to determine the structures of molecules, such as X-ray crystallography. Finally, this instrument will be used as a recruiting and training tool and for the USC TRIO and USC MESA programs aimed at serving disadvantaged, science-oriented high school juniors and seniors.

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).

With support from the Chemistry Research Instrumentation and Facilities: Multiuser program (CRIF:MU), the Departments of Chemistry at the University of Southern California (USC) and California State University - Fullerton (CSUF) will collaborate on the acquisition and remote control cyber enabling of a 400 MHz nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometer to be housed at USC. It will be employed in a wide variety of research projects, supporting structural, reaction, and analytical studies such as 1) new synthetic routes to inorganic nanocrystals; 2) the development of new synthetic methods in organic and organometallic chemistry; 3) studies of biologically important organophosphorus compounds; 4) new synthetic methods and synthesis of bioactive molecules; and 5) the design of novel RNA binding peptides.

Multinuclear NMR spectroscopy is a key analysis and characterization tool in chemistry today. The spectra enable researchers to track the progress of chemical reactions, identify unknown substances and provide information on the atomic arrangement and structures in species ranging from small molecules to large proteins by detecting transitions between energy levels arising from the nuclear spin properties of atoms. This instrument will support the education of future scientists at levels from undergraduate, to graduate student, to postdoctoral research associate. It will be used in lab courses for both chemistry and biochemistry students at USC and CSUF. Cyber infrastructure will be developed for both the remote control of the autosampler enabled instrument, as well as remote access for data collection/analysis from the instrument with a web based system. A practical NMR methods course will be developed jointly at USC and CSUF to train students in the use of the NMR spectrometer.

This award on solar energy research is co-funded by the Divisions of Chemistry, Materials Research, and Mathematical Sciences of the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences. A collaboration of chemistry, materials science, mathematics, physics, and engineering groups at the University of Michigan and the University of Southern California will develop a unique, new, thin film solar cell based on polymer-wrapped carbon nanotubes (CNTs). These films will be used in donor-acceptor heterojunctions employing a range of new organic materials and device structures, including polymers and small molecules. The use of CNTs extends the optical sensitivity from the blue into the near infrared, allowing organic-based devices to approach nearly thermodynamically-limited power conversion efficiencies. Simulated excited state (exciton) flow and charge transport through the CNT network uses new treecode algorithms and semi-classical hydrodynamical models. Efficient, multi-dimensional optimization methods are used to develop novel aperiodic dielectric stacks that couple the broad solar spectrum into very thin films used as the active device region in solar cells. A diverse range of undergraduate and graduate students and postdoctoral fellows are engaged in this interdisciplinary research in renewable energy. These students are provided with opportunities to influence policy decisions regarding energy choices through coursework in energy policy and geopolitics on their respective university campuses. The group is also involved in the University of Michigan's Saturday Morning Physics lecture series, providing the public with insights into the latest science and technologies.

PI: Mark E Thompson
Proposal Number: 1511757

The sun represents the most abundant potential source of sustainable energy on earth. Solar cells that use light-absorbing organic polymers to convert light to electricity ? organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices - offer a potentially low-cost route for renewable electricity production. However, in order to achieve parity with other solar photovoltaic technologies, organic solar cells must increase their power conversion efficiency past the current 10.5% world record. One reason for this low efficiency is that OPV devices do not harness the light energy in the infra-red range of the solar spectrum, which is beyond the visible range of light. The overall goal of this project is to design new light absorption materials for OPV that simultaneously increase infra-red light absorption and improve the voltage output, leading to a potentially significant incremental increase in solar energy conversion efficiency. Through this research, fundamental scientific understanding on how to more rationally align the energy conversion processes within OPV devices will be also gained. As part of the educational activities associated with this project, students from a community college in Los Angeles will participate in summer research on solar energy, hosted through the laboratory of the principal investigator.

The overall goal of the proposed research is to enhance the performance of organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices through the development of new materials and device architectures that extend light absorption and conversion into the near infra-red (near-IR) portion of the solar spectrum, and concurrently increase the open circuit voltage towards its theoretical limit. Towards this end, small molecules that absorb strongly into the 950-1000 nm range will be used as part of single and multiple sensitization strategies to achieve broadband absorption in the visible to near-IR spectral range. Furthermore, intramolecular symmetry breaking charge transfer materials, which contain both electron donors and acceptors, will be designed to narrow the offset between the energies of the charge transfer state, exciton, and the open-circuit voltage. In this context, the research plan has two primary objectives that will be carried out interactively. The first objective is to prepare and characterize the photophysical properties of new materials, and then second objective to develop novel structures that utilize these new materials in OPV devices. Theoretical models will be used to predict absorption energies for a wide range of cyanine-like dyes for near-IR, and from these studies, the most promising small molecule materials will be synthesized, characterized by photophysical methods, and then tested in OPV devices. Synthetic and photophysical characterization studies will also be carried out to determine the parameters that control symmetry breaking charge transfer (SBCT) in strongly absorbing materials. This fundamental understanding will be used to design OPV device architectures to accommodate these SCBT materials. The device physics of OPV devices containing SCBT materials will be then characterized to understand the phenomena that could lead to increased open circuit voltage. Finally, all dye targets will be designed to serve as suitable ligands for preparation of zinc-dye complexes. These new zinc complexes are expected to promote symmetry breaking charge transfer, making it possible to simultaneously increase near-IR spectral response and increase open circuit voltage. If successful, these new OPV materials will improve solar energy conversion efficiency through synergistic design of light absorption and charge transfer processes.

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is to ensure patients with glaucoma are compliant with their prescribed treatment. Compliance with a medication regimen is defined as the extent to which patients take medications as prescribed by their health care providers. Glaucoma patients require lifelong treatment and a strict commitment to administer eye drops daily, which is especially challenging for elderly patients. The successful application of eye drops requires coordination, manual dexterity, hand-eye coordination, and good vision, which result in fewer than 50 % of patients administering their eye drops as prescribed. Ophthalmic pharmaceuticals (eye drops) represent the most widely used treatment for glaucoma with more than 30 million prescriptions filled in the United States each year. This project has the potential to significantly reduce the number of patients who lose their vision due to glaucoma, dramatically improving the prognosis of those who are afflicted with this disease.

This I-Corps project is based upon the development of a drug delivery platform to guarantee patients with chronic diseases are and continue to be complaint. Chronic diseases are especially sensitive to compliance issues due to the necessity of the patient to commit to a lifetime of treatment. This will be accomplished through the use of a proprietary drug eluting, thermally-responsive polymer that is liquid at room temperature and solidifies when it heats to body temperature. A solution of the polymer loaded with a therapeutic agent will be inserted into the tear duct where it will solidify, forming a solid, liquid-permeable plug. The plug conforms perfectly to the shape of the patient?s unique anatomy due to the liquid-to-solid phase transition that occurs after insertion. Once inserted, the therapeutic agent is continuously released from the plug, maintaining drug efficacy over an extended period, eliminating the need for the application of daily eye drops and ensuring patient compliance.

PART 1: NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY

In the last ten years, solar cells based on hybrid materials that contain organic and inorganic components have exhibited rapidly improving performance that has now reached levels competitive with commercial silicon panels. Through this project, which is supported by the Solid State and Materials Chemistry program at NSF, the research team at the University of Southern California develops a deeper understanding of why these materials perform so exceptionally well and investigates strategies to push the performance of these hybrid materials even higher in the future. The work is highly interdisciplinary, combining efforts in organic synthesis, computational chemistry, and physical property measurements to examine how light interacts with these complex materials. The project also engages undergraduates from the nearby Cerritos Community College (which is 54% Latino, 8% African American) and Native American High School students in the research.



PART 2: TECHNICAL SUMMARY
This project, which is supported by the Solid State and Materials Chemistry program at NSF, deepens our fundamental understanding of how organic molecules in their excited state interact within periodic inorganic structures. In previous studies the organic component has been predominantly structural in nature, not actively participating in the valence or conduction bands. In this project the research team at the University of Southern California focuses on materials where the organic component is an active optical or electronic element, by making it a major contributor to the valance and/or conduction bands of the hybrid solid. The principle investigators develop new material design principles to promote enhanced charge transport of photoexcited carriers through the solid state. In the process, new understanding is achieved about how to align the highest occupied (HOMO) and lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals (LUMO) of organic dyes with the conduction or valence bands of the extended framework. The materials that are developed during this study act as model systems to investigate how localized excitons on the organic molecules can be transferred into the far more delocalized bands of the metal halide region of the crystal. The systematic investigation involves a combination of materials design, synthesis, Density Functional Theory calculations, and physical property measurement to answer fundamental questions about how the organic and inorganic components interact within the crystal structure. Additionally, the project engages undergraduates from the nearby Cerritos Community College (which is 54% Latino, 8% African American) and Native American High School students in the research.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.