GraphenE-orgaNIc hybrid architectures for organic electronics: a mUltiSite training action

GENIUS aims at offering highest-quality supra-sectoral and cross-disciplinary training to a pool of promising young researchers, in an area at the interface between Supramolecular Chemistry, Materials- and Nano-Science, Physics and Electrical Engineering. GENIUS appointees will be trained in lecture courses, dedicated schools and workshops, and through an ambitious and carefully planned research activity that benefits both from the expertise of world-leading PIs with remarkable track records in both training and research. GENIUS is designed to generate new scientific and technological knowledge on the production, processing and characterization of graphene based supramolecular architectures, taking advantage of the outstanding physical and electronic properties of graphene. We are particularly interested in developing and studying a new graphene-organic hybrid material (GOH) for applications in microelectronics; the new material proposed, while maintaining the excellent properties of classical graphene, will have improved processability in solution, chemical functionalization and tunable optoelectronic properties. We will use supramolecular interactions to cover single graphene sheets with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon molecules, i.e. nanographenes (NG), which are composed of i) an aromatic core able to interact strongly with graphene, and ii) flexible side chains to provide solubility in organic solvents. NGs adsorb reversibly on graphene by pi-pi interactions, forming ordered adlayers on its surface with preprogrammed molecule spacing and orientation, ultimately modulating the electronic properties of the GOH. The interaction of NG and graphene will be studied at macroscopic scale by optical, Raman and current-voltage spectroscopy, and at molecular and microscopic scales primarily by Scanning Probe Microscopies. As a proof of principle, field effect transistors and photovoltaics devices based on graphene-NG composites will be tested.