Postdoctoral Research Associate
Department of Chemistry
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
This study examines how polymer backbone rigidity affects deformation and charge transport under strain. Comparing DPP-4T and DPP-DTT connects molecular structure with their different responses to stretching.
I investigate how molecular structure, backbone rigidity, molecular packing, and thin-film microstructure determine charge transport and mechanical behavior in conjugated polymer semiconductors.
My work uses multiscale structural and electrical characterization to connect molecular-level deformation with device-scale electronic performance.
I study organic semiconductors and organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) that retain electronic performance under mechanical deformation.
Research topics include strain-dependent structural evolution, charge transport, backbone flexibility, crosslinking strategies, and interface engineering for deformable organic semiconductor devices.
My current research includes near-infrared and short-wave infrared organic photodetectors (OPDs) and organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs).
For OPDs, I focus on molecular and interface engineering, donor/acceptor interfaces, charge-blocking layers, and suppression of reverse-bias leakage while preserving photoresponse. For OECTs, I investigate volumetric capacitance, doping efficiency, and mixed ionic-electronic transport in conjugated polymers.
View all publications in this areaEster units make conjugated polymers easier to break down and rebuild, but can also interrupt charge transport. This study compares physical blending with terpolymerization as routes to recover transistor performance. Adding 10 wt% of a fully conjugated polymer to ester-containing DPP polymers gives substantially greater mobility improvements than distributing comparable conjugated segments chemically along the backbone.
This review follows how water uptake in PSS-rich regions changes PEDOT:PSS film structure, disrupts conducting pathways, and weakens adhesion. It compares solvent treatments, surfactants, crosslinking, and modification of PSS as stabilization approaches, with attention to the trade-offs among conductivity, mechanical properties, and water resistance.
Layer-by-layer solution processing of PTB7-Th and COTIC-4Cl inverted organic photodetectors increases crystallinity and lowers trap density, which reduces recombination and improves photoresponsivity. Adding the wide-bandgap polymer PVK shifts the trap distribution from shallow to deeper levels and suppresses charge injection under reverse bias, lowering dark current. The devices reach a specific detectivity above 10¹² Jones at 1050 nm under −0.2 V bias.