As the pursuit for higher performance and lower cost photovoltaics, and for new applications of optoelectronic devices moves beyond crystalline silicon, there are many unique opportunities for materials research into hybrid organic-inorganic, and organic semiconductors. This dissertation focuses on both hybrid organic-inorganic materials and organic materials for optoelectronic applications. In...
Self-assembly of colloidal particles at the nano- and microscale has been a powerful tool for producing structures with emergent properties in applications ranging from electro-mechanical systems to photonics and biomedical devices. Great success has been achieved in experiments, where a variety of exotic phases have been discovered and even reconfigurable...
Biomaterials have immense potential for studying fundamental biological processes and developing therapies to help regenerate or replace the structure and function of injured tissues. In order to accomplish this, they need to be designed to mimic the structure and function of Nature’s most important material, the extracellular matrix (ECM) surrounding...
Soft materials such as colloids and polymers often exhibit a variety of mesoscopic structures that are governed merely by weak physical interactions. Due to these intermediate structures, they can be easily taken out of thermal equilibrium by introducing external stimuli such as a shear flow and electromagnetic fields. This thesis...