This award in the Chemical Synthesis (SYN) program supports work by Professor Joshua Pak and co-workers at Idaho State University and Rice University to carry out fundamental studies on novel I-III bimetallic complexes. The work addresses both the development of robust synthetic strategies to prepare a library of I-III bimetallic complexes and study their ligand exchange chemistry. These bimetallic complexes can be used to prepare high quality I-III-VI nanoparticles and thin films, which can potentially be used in next generation photovoltaics. In addition to undergraduates, high school students will be involved in this project through ACS Project SEED program. Fundamental understanding of how these bimetallic complexes form and their reaction mechanisms may allow tailored preparation of the corresponding (nano)materials.
Semiconductors containing I-III metals represent important (nano)materials for next generation solar cells and other optoelectronic devices. The ability to control the reactivity for these bimetallic complexes is relevant to how the corresponding (nano)materials are made and behave.
