Dr. Bilal Kaafarani

Assistant Professor
Organic Chemistry

B.S., American University of Beirut (1997); Ph.D., Bowling Green State University (2002); Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Arizona/Georgia Institute of Technology (2003-2004).

• In our research, we work on developing novel organic materials with potential interesting optical and electronic properties. Such materials are crucial for a wide range of organic electronic applications such as light-emitting diodes, solar cells, and field-effect transistors. These materials are advantageous because of their relative processibility (spin coating, wet- and dry-processing), synthetic tunability of band-gap, band energies, solubility, and the availability of diverse materials. One of the approaches we use in our lab is the synthesis of discotic columnar liquid crystals. Discotic liquid-crystalline mesophases are typically quasi-two-dimensional molecules, which are often constituted of a rigid central aromatic core and extended flexible chains. These molecules usually pack in the form of well defined columns forming one-dimensional paths for charge transport along the stacked conjugated cores due to good intermolecular orbital overlap within the stacks. We are also interested in the use of intermolecular interactions to engineer the solid state packing of molecules to generate networks. Such networks can potentially facilitate the transport of carriers and charges along the column axis of the stacks.

Selected Publications

• Synthesis and Detailed Photophysical Studies of Pyrene-Based Molecules Substituted With Extended Chains, J. Phys. Chem. A, 2009, 113, 1235-1243 (with R. M. Moustafa, J. A Degheili and D. Patra).

• Thin Film Microstructure of a Solution Processable Pyrene-Based Small Molecules For Electronic Applications, Chem. Mater., 2008, 20, 5743-5749 (with L. A. Lucas, D. M. DeLongchamp, L. J. Richter, R. J. Kline, D. A. Fischer and G. A. Jabbour).

• Synthesis and Metal-Binding Studies of a Novel Pyrene Discotic, Tetrahedron Lett.2008, 49, 238-242 (with F. M. Jradi and M. Al-Sayah).

• Multi-Phase Growth and Electronic Structure of Ultra-Thin Hexaazatrinaphthylene on Au(111), J. Phys. Chem. C., 2007, 111, 10493-10497 (with S. D. Ha, S. Barlow, S. R. Marder and A. Kahn).