Laboratory of Polymer Chemistry : Prof. Dr. Yves Geerts
Unlike the name of the laboratory might suggest, our research is focused on "small molecules", namely, liquid crystalline semiconductors for organic electronics application. Various organic semiconductors have been receiving a great deal of attention in "plastic" electronic devices such as organic photovoltaic cells, light-emitting diodes (OLED) and field effect transistors (OFET). The important physical parameters of microcrystalline films are strongly affected by dimensions of domains and domain boundaries, while large defect-free single crystals are difficult to fabricate and inappropriate for practical applications. At the same time, liquid crystals have been recognized as a new type of organic semiconductors, as they are capable to self-healing of structural defects and to self-organization in large structurally homogeneous domains. Influence of domain boundaries, if any, on carrier transport in liquid crystalline phases is very small.
