- Title
- Organic Semiconductor Nanoparticle Synthesis and Characterization for Printed Electronics Applications: An Undergraduate Laboratory
- Creator
- Bull, Justine; Cottam, Sophie; Gill, Isaac A.; Dastoor, Paul C.; Holmes, Natalie P.
- Relation
- Journal of Chemical Education Vol. 100, Issue 7, p. 2724-2732
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.2c01083
- Publisher
- American Chemical Society
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2023
- Description
- Here we showcase an undergraduate teaching laboratory in which students synthesize and characterize colloidal nanoparticles of organic semiconductors and assess their suitability for applications in printed electronics such as solar cells and bioelectronics. Scanning electron microscopy, UV–visible spectroscopy, and photoluminescence spectroscopy are used to characterize the nanoparticles, and students learn how to match electron donating (p-type) and electron accepting (n-type) materials based on the literature material characteristics: HOMO, LUMO, and charge carrier mobility. This teaching laboratory exercise was developed as part of the University of Newcastle Centre for Organic Electronics Spring School program and includes data from a cohort of 44 undergraduate student participants. The teaching laboratory exercise is applicable to undergraduate students in multiple disciplines, including physical chemistry, chemical engineering, materials science, and physics, and can be altered to suit time, level of experience, and instrumentation availability. The exercise utilizes a post-practical quiz to provide feedback and assess embedded knowledge. The student cohort responded well to the post-practical quiz, for example, 94% correctly identified the purpose of synthesizing nanoparticles of organic semiconductors for printed electronics applications being eco-friendly high-throughput processing benefits as well as the ability to nanostructure the photoactive layer to optimize exciton dissociation. This Laboratory Experiment also provides a set of Student Learning Objectives (LOs) and a detailed account of observations/outcomes in attaining these LOs for the student cohort at the Spring School program. This experiment is an introductory lesson in colloidal nanomaterials and gives students exposure to the chemistry, physics, and materials science concepts of organic electronics.
- Subject
- physical chemistry; applications of chemistry; materials science; semiconductors
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1485364
- Identifier
- uon:51565
- Identifier
- ISSN:0021-9584
- Language
- eng
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