PLEASE NOTE THE CHANGE OF DATE - FROM JANUARY 28, 2009 TO JANUARY 29, 2009
Center for Excitonics
Seminar Series Announcement
The Center for Excitonics will be starting its seminar series in 2009 (http://www.rle.mit.edu/excitonics).
The Center is sponsoring a series of energy-related lectures from scholars
and colleagues in the private
sector who are working in the field. The first lecture is scheduled
in January. We invite you to join us
and to forward this information on to others who might be interested in
attending this and other seminars.
Title:
Exploring Electron Transfer in
Organic Semiconductors
Presenter:
Prof. Troy Van Voorhis
Organization: Department
of Chemistry, MIT
Date:
January 29, 2009
Time:
3:00 - 4:00pm
Place:
36-428
Refreshments: Yes
URL:
http://www.rle.mit.edu/excitonics/vanvoorhis-012809.html
Abstract
Electron transfer reactions are the centerpiece of artificial photosynthetic
complexes, organic LEDs and essentially all of redox chemistry. In particular,
electron transfer rates govern the efficiency of exciton formation and
dissociation in organic semiconductors. This talk will highlight ongoing
work being carried out in our group aimed at accurately simulating the
reaction dynamics in these systems. Specifically, we will focus on the
electronic structure problem inherent in describing electron transfer:
How do we make connections between a phenomenological picture like Marcus
theory and more rigorous electronic structure techniques? How can we model
the disorder inherent in organic solids?
Bio
Professor Van Voorhis graduated from University of California, Berkeley
in 2001 with a PhD in Chemistry. After two years as a postdoctoral fellow
at Harvard, he started as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at MIT. He
became an Associate Professor in 2008.
Professor Van Voorhis' research focuses on the use of theory and modeling
to understand the dynamics of electron motion in complex environments.
His primary interests include the fundamental theory of electronic excited
states, the description of electron transfer and the simulation of reactions
that involve more than one electronic state. These processes are at the
heart of several technological applications, including organic LEDs, artificial
photosynthesis and molecular electronics.
Professor Van Voorhis held the Paul M. Cook Career Development Chair in
Chemistry, is a Sloan Fellow, a David and Lucille Packard Fellow and the
recipient of a CAREER award from the National Science Foundation.