Applied Materials and Performance Group
The Applied Materials and Performance group includes materials scientists and chemists developing innovative synthetic approaches for fabrication of new materials and relating extrinsic material properties to their chemical/physical properties at the atomic, molecular, and nanoscale. Interfacial phenomena are a particular interest, including functionalization of the surfaces of nanomaterials, catalyst/catalyst support development along with charge and mass transport across interfaces. The division's capabilities in soft materials generally reside in this group. Another portion of the group contains physicists and materials scientists specializing in vacuum-deposited thin-films with the unique ability to accommodate rigid substrates up to 2 meters in diameter in addition to rolls of flexible (plastic) substrate (roll-to-roll processing).
Internationally recognized expertise in organic electronic materials and devices (used in flat-panel displays, solid-state lighting, organic semiconductors and organic photovoltaics) also resides in this group. The group maintains significant laboratory holdings (more than 10,000 sq ft) for the synthesis and characterization of these materials and systems, mostly in the form of wet chemistry labs or labs with large, specialized vacuum deposition systems.