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 possible corona restrictions and the fact that the course has been well-optimized to run in the distance-learning format, the main part of the course will be delivered via TUWEL using pre-recorded audio lectures supported by literature examples, video content and demonstrations.

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. Together with your anonymous feedback after each lecture, this will provide a good base for our direct discussions.

The preliminary discussion will take place in-person on 02.03.2023 at 1 PM in BC Seminarraum Lehar 01. Join if you want to know more about the content of the course and its format.

Several additional points:

1. The content of the lectures will only be available to those registered for the course via TISS. Registration is open from now on.
2. Slides for the entire course will be provided at the beginning of the course via TUWEL.
3. The course will practically run between the middle of March and the middle of May, excluding the Easter break. The first exam slot is planned for June 2023.

! 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.

Depending on the corona restrictions, the exams will be held online via Zoom or in presence.

Several exam slots will be offered after the course to make sure everyone has the possibility to take the exam in 2023.

More information regarding the exam content can be found on the TUWEL page.

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