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Cherie R. Kagan Research Group

Electrical and Systems Engineering | Chemistry | Materials Science and Engineering



Welcome!

Group Photo 2010

Our Research

Our research explores the chemical and physical properties of molecular, supramolecular, and nanostructured materials and assemblies and their potential applications in electronic, optoelectronic, and sensing devices. Molecule-surface and molecule-molecule interactions drive molecular organization. We exploit these chemical interactions to construct functional supramolecular and nanocrystal assemblies. Electrical measurements, optical spectroscopies, electrochemistry, and scanning probe and electron microscopies are used to probe the structure-function relationships of molecular assemblies and their interfaces with zero-, one-, and two-dimensional inorganic surfaces. These experiments provide a basis for understanding intermolecular, intramolecular, and interfacial (organic-inorganic) charge and excitonic transport and interactions. These insights are used to guide the rational design of molecular and nanostructured devices ranging from transistors to solar cells to photonics to chemical and biological sensors.

Our labs are equipped for chemical synthesis and assembly, cw and ultrafast spectroscopies with high spatial resolution, electrical measurements, and the complete fabrication of molecular and nanostructured materials in devices. Micron and nanoscale device fabrication is carried out in Penn’s Wolf Nanofabrication Facility and structural characterization is performed in Penn’s Regional Nanotechnology Facility.

Our group is interdisciplinary with students from the Departments of Electrical and Systems Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, and Chemistry. We have collaborations with groups in the Schools of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Arts and Sciences, and Medicine and through Penn’s Laboratory for the Research on the Structure of Matter and Penn’s Energy Research Group.


News/Events:

11/22/2011:
PbSe Nanowire FETs

Our work has been published in ACS Nano describing a robust gate dielectric stack that we integrate on flexible plastics to demonstrate low-hysteresis, low-voltage colloidal PbSe NW FETs, and the promise of these materials in flexible, electronic circuitry.

11/15/2011:
Thiocyanate-Capped PbS Nanocubes

Our work has just been published in Nano Letters describing thiocyanate-capped PbS nanocubes to form high-performance, ambipolar field-effect transistors under mild conditions, enabling their integration into the first quantum-dot circuits on flexible substrates.

9/15/2011:
$21.7 Million NSF Grant

Penn's LRSM (Laboratory for Research on the Structure of Matter has been awarded a $21.7 million, six year NSF grant. Our group is one of four to be supported by this new grant.

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Copyright © 2011 Kagan Research Group, University of Pennsylvania
Electrical & Systems Engineering, Moore Building
200 South 33rd Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104