GELBRID

pi-Electronic Gel Hybrids: Towards Smart Photoactive Nanomaterials

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'GELBRID is a 3-year project aiming at the preparation and extensive characterization of advanced gel hybrid materials. Three basic strategies will be addressed: (i) peptide-substituted linear pi-conjugated molecules to be gelated and (ii) used as scaffolds for the hybridization with inorganic nanoparticles and for (iii) noncovalent functionalization of graphene through self-assembly. The final target is (iv) a new gel hybrid system that, combining the above 3 strategies, incorporates their outstanding structural and electronic properties. The intrinsic features of the materials fabricated will make them attractive in applicative areas such as advanced nanomaterials, light harvesting, and solar energy conversion. The applicant has a seven-year research experience acquired in world class laboratories in India and Japan and will bring to Europe his expertise in the fields of design, synthesis, self-assembly and gelation of organic molecules as well as in the preparation of hybrid nanomaterials. The host institution (CNR, Italy) will offer him an internationally recognized expertise in the area of advanced physical characterization, supramolecular chemistry, and photosciences. The mutual transfer of knowledge will allow to gather the intellectual and infrastructural critical mass needed to reach the ambitious goal of preparing fully characterized unprecedented organic-inorganic hybrid gel nanomaterials fabricated through self-assembly. The original concepts elaborated in GELBRID are expected to have a noticeable impact in materials science, also thanks to their potential in solar conversion technologies that are currently growing at an impressive pace. The one-year return phase to India is intended to be an instrument to reinforce the scientific cooperation between India and Europe, also taking advantage of an already existing network of collaboration between the host institution and a number of big companies, SME and academic institutions all across the continent.'

Descrizione progetto (Article)

Hybrid materials provide the opportunity to combine the known characteristics of each constituent to realise novel functionalities and properties.

The great diversity of supramolecular gel architectures has recently been successfully combined with other units to create sensitivity to light and chemicals for applications in sensing and actuating.EU-funded scientists developed a new gel hybrid system targeted at optoelectronics applications within the scope of the project 'Pi-electronic gel hybrids: Towards smart photoactive nanomaterials' (GELBRID).

The soft materials are based on peptide-substituted molecules hybridised with inorganic nanoparticles or allotropes of carbon.Squaraine dyes are a class of organic dyes with strong absorption in the visible to near-infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum.

They are under intense investigation in the fields of sensors and solar cells.

In groundbreaking work, the team demonstrated sonication-induced gelation of a peptide-functionalised squaraine dye that was accelerated by addition of very small quantities of single-walled carbon nanotubes.

Extensive spectroscopic and microscopic characterisation revealed the mechanism of self-assembly.

Results open the door to rational design and simple, inexpensive preparation of nano-structured hybrid materials made of squaraine and carbon allotropes such as fullerenes, carbon nanotubes and graphene.

Further development should lead to novel optoelectronic devices with exciting new functionalities.Another line of research investigated exploitation of the inherent ability of peptide units to form bi-directional hydrogen bonds in order to combine p-type and n-type semiconductor materials.

The team demonstrated self-assembly into a helical gel nanostructure of a p-type peptide conjugated (bound weakly) with n-type materials such as fullerenes and perylene diimides.

Conductivity studies revealed that incorporation of the n-type materials enhanced the charge carrier mobility and carrier lifetime of the gel.The GELBRID project made significant progress in the design and manufacture of novel gel hybrid materials with promising potential for application in optoelectronic devices.

Combing peptide self-assembly with novel functionalities offered by carbon nanostructures, the innovative and knowledge-based photoactive nanomaterials could lead to improved and low-cost solar cells encouraging greater market uptake to help meet the EU's ambitious renewable energy goals.

Numerous other fields such as sensing and biomedicine also stand to benefit from project outcomes.