Inorganic & Organic Supramolecular Architectures for Photonic
Devices and Molecular Electronics
Vijay Mahadevan Iyer
Department of Chemistry, University of Fribourg.
This doctoral thesis explores the very fascinating realm of ‘surface chemistry’ wherein
inorganic and organic compounds have been immobilized as ‘self assembled monolayers’
(SAMs) on surfaces of substrates like gold, platinum and ITO (Indium Tin Oxide) followed
by photophysical and electrochemical investigations thereof.
Ruthenium(II) complexes with ligands such as bipyridine, terpyridine and 2,6bis(benzimidazol-2-yl)pyridine were synthesized and immobilized on surfaces of gold and
ITO through thiol and phosphonate linkers, respectively. Photophysical and electrochemical
properties of these complexes were investigated subsequently to explore potential
applications in photonic devices.
Organic photochromic materials have attracted much attention, because of their relevance to
optical memory media and sensors. Among various types of photochromic compounds,
dithienylethenes (DTEs) are the most promising because of the excellent thermal stability of
both (open-closed) of their isomers, photofatigue resistance, rapid response, and high
reactivity in the solid state. We have synthesized two compounds (symmetrical and
unsymmetrical) with the DTE backbone, immobilized them on gold electrodes via thiol
linkers and investigated their photophysical and electronic properties for prospective
applications in molecular electronics.
Jury:
Prof. Dr. Peter Belser, Universität Freiburg (CH); Dr. Heike Riel, IBM Research
Laboratory, Rüschlikon, Zürich (CH); Prof. Dr. Alex von Zelewsky, Universität Freiburg
(CH); Prof. Dr. Carl-Wilhelm Schläpfer, Präsident der Jury, Universität Freiburg (CH)