Directory

Research Interests

Chemical sensors

We are using thin films of metal-organic frameworks (MOF’s) to detect several classes of volatile organic compounds. Specifically, we use solution and vapor deposition techniques to grow thin films on piezoelectric substrates. We measure the kinetic and thermodynamic properties of adsorption and desorption to understand the structure-property relationships which will guide how MOFs can be used in gas separations, storage, and sensing.

Molecular spintronics

Organic semiconductors can absorb light, emit light and transport charge and spin. As a result, a multitude of functional devices, e.g. solar cells, transistors, and light-emitting displays can be fabricated. To expand on the versatility of molecular materials, there has been an effort to manipulate the spin degree of freedom of the electrical carriers. Our main goal is to measure spin-dependent transport properties in organic semiconductors to better understand the fundament mechanisms that govern spin-relaxation mechanisms.

Thermoelectric materials

Thermoelectric materials convert heat into electrical power. Our main goal is to develop thin-film based materials that can be used in low-power applications, such as wearable, flexible electronics. Toward this end we synthesis, characterize and fabricate nanocomposites using conducting polymers and inorganic semiconductor nanowires.

Sutch, J. Allred and G. Szulczewski, “Electron conducting Ag₂Te nanowire/polymer thermoelectric thin films” J. Vac. Technol. A 39 023401 (2021).

Shankwitz, D. Speed, D. Sinanan, and G. Szulczewski, “The Effects of Functional groups and Missing Linkers on the Adsorption Capacity of Aromatic Hydrocarbons in UiO-66 Thin Films” Inorganics 2021, 9(1) 9010001.

Ulrich, T, Sutch, G. Szulczewski, M. Schweizer, N. Barbosa and P. Arujo “Broadband polarized emission from P(NDI2OD-T2) polymer: J. Phys. Cond. Matt. 30 (2018) 265101.

Keskin, A. Gupta and G. Szulczewski, “Solution processed TiO₂/BiFeO₃/poly(3-hexylthiophene) solar cells” Materials Letters 159 (2015) 303-308.

Kreil, P. LeClair, and G. Szulczewski, “Steric inhibition of metal penetration in the fabrication of metal/molecule contacts” J. Phys. Chem. C 118 (2014) 26836-26844.

Brauer and G. Szulczewski, “Important role of surface fluoride in nitrogen-doped TiO₂ nanoparticle with visible light photocatalytic activity” J. Phys. Chem. B 118 (2014) 14188-14195.

Asare-Yeboah, R. M. Frazier, G. Szulczewski, and D. Li, “Temperature gradient approach to grow large, preferentially-oriented TIPS pentacene crystals for organic thin film transistors” J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 32 (2014) 052401.

Ma, K. Anderson, L. Guo, A. Yousuf, E. Ellingsworth, C. Vajner, H.-T. Wang, and G. Szulczewski, “Temperature dependent thermopower and electrical conductivity of Te nanowire/PEDOT:PSS microribbons” App. Phys. Lett. 105 (2014) 073905.

Guo, A. Aglan, H. Quan, J. Sun, C. Tang, G. Szulczewski, and H.-T. Wang, “Selective adsorption of bismuth telluride nanoplatelets through electrostatic attractions” Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 16 (2014) 11297-11302.

Ellingsworth, B. Turner, and G. Szulczewski, Thermal conversion of [Fe(phen)₃](SCN)₂ thin films into the spin crossover complex Fe(phen)₂(NCS)₂” RSC Advances 3 (2013) 3745-2754.