By wiring receptors in series with a conjugated polymer, the activation of only a small fraction of the receptors by a target analyte results in a substantial reduction in the overall signal. In this way sensory schemes have been devised with unprecedented sensitivity. Examples will include the detection of TNT at sub-femtogram levels and ion sensors with high selectivity. Other topics will include the supramolecular assembly and synthesis of non-covalent ladder polymers that behave as highly conducting and chemically sensitive insulated molecular wires. This talk will describe a variety of efforts ongoing in our research group regarding the synthesis and characterization of siloxane based polymers.
Nanostructured materials are of interest for a variety of applications.
Nanocrystalline materials are made up of crystallites with dimensions of 5-15 nm. They may be generated by various physical and chemical approaches. As ultrahigh surface area materials, they are of great interest in catalytic applications. Through controlled hydrolysis synthesis in reverse microemulsions, we also have achieved complex oxide nanoparticles with ultrahigh thermal stability for effective catalytic combustion of methane. These examples illustrate the uniqueness of nanocrystalline processing, enabling us to design and tailor microstructure, component dispersion, surface reactivity and defect chemistry of catalytic systems.