After successful completion of the course, students are able to...
- Explain the basic principles of supramolecular chemistry: molecular self-assembly, nature of supramolecular interactions, reversibility, error correction and addictiveness; as well its thermodynamic and kinetic aspects- Exemplify the principles of molecular recognition (steric, structural and electronic complementarity) and pre-organization with examples of molecular systems (CD, CAL, DNA, crown ethers, cryptands and spherands) and apply them to predict simple molecular assemblies - Illustrate how basic principles of supramolecular chemistry can be extended to larger systems (molecular machines, micelles, liquid crystals, BCP, nanocarbons, nanoparticles). Explain what those systems are and give examples of their applications- Compare and categorize light-to-matter interactions in molecules and materials- Explain and compare basic principles behind solar cells, photocatalysis and light-emitting diodes; describe state-of-the-art of these fields and explain limitations of various material classes
The first part of this Lecture will introduce the concept of molecular recognition, overview major forces of molecular self-assembly and cover several important historical milestones of the field such as the recent Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2016. We will cover many textbook examples of self-assembled systems including molecular (crown ethers, cyclodextrine and calixarenes) as well as biological (proteins, DNA) systems and slowly go up in complexity. Following examples will present self-assembled systems of various dimentionalities: 0D (micelles, fullerenes), 1D (carbon nanotubes), 2D (self-assembled monolayers, Langmuir-Blodgett films, graphene) and 3D (block copolymers, liquid crystals). We will spend much time trying to classify and sort out non-covalent interactions (e.g. van der Waals forces) that are very imporant in the world of molecular self-assembly. At the end of this first part, we will look at the self-assembly of inorganic nanoparticles and talk about metal organic frameworks. The course will introduce you to a number of practical examples where molecular self-assembly made it way to applications and devices.
The second part of the Lecture will introduce you to various photoactive materials such as photovoltaics (PV), light emitting diodes (LED), lasers, photocatalysts and phosphors. The aim is to develop your understanding of the materials design and materials requirements for each of these applications. We will start by discussing the nature of the light-to-matter interactions and sort out the concepts or color, transparency and opaqueness, absorption and reflectance, refraction and birefringence to understand the principles and limitations of various photoactive materials. We will further link this knowledge with the band theory of solid state materials and review the concept of metals, semiconductors and insulators. Particular focus will be devoted to history, basic principles, materials, limitations and perspectives of solar cells, photocatalysis and light emitting diodes.
Due to the corona restrictions and my leave during a part of the semester, the course will be delivered via TUWEL using pre-recorded audio lectures and well-structured and informative slides. The content will be additionally supported by literature examples, video content and demonstrations (posted on TUWEL).
To address your comments and engage in discussions, I will also open a forum on the TUWEL, in which everyone is encouraged to post questions and additional info. I will also collect your anonymous feedback after each lecture and answer some of the most interesting questions on this forum.
--------------- SS2021 UPDATE ---------------
This year, the course will take place fully online via the TUWEL platform. The link to the TUWEL-course page is here, but the content will only be available to those registered for the course via TISS. Registration is open from now on.
The course includes 14 lecture topics (some contain one, some two lectures, overall 16), slides will be provided at the beginning of the course.
To allow for a gradual learning experience, the TUWEL-page will be structured in a way that materials will become accessible gradually. Every Tuesday at 10:00 and every Friday at 10:00 a new 1.5-hour-long lecture along with additional materials will be published. The course will thus run between the beginning of March and the middle of May.
Published lectures will include an audio recording of me talking through the slides. Most of these have been created in SS20 (after the pandemic began), but have been optimized throughout the last year based on the feedback from more than 30 students.
--- "Preliminary discussion" session will be available on TUWEL course page on 02.03.2021 at 10 AM ---
! For data protection purposes we can only respond to inquiries sent from an official TU (student) e-mail address !
The evaluation will be based on the results of the oral examination (30 min per person), in which the students need to answer three random questions from the lecture content. The pool of all questions will be provided in advance.
Due to the corona restrictions, the exams will be most likely held online via Zoom with or without a camera, whatever the student prefers.
Several exam slots will be offered after the course to make sure everyone has the possibility to take the exam in 2021.
More information regarding the exam content can be found on the TUWEL page.
