Project Grant FA23861914008

The National Science Foundation Division of Chemistry awarded the University of Texas at Dallas a $450,000 Project Grant under the Mathematical and Physical Sciences program (CFDA 47.049) to develop smart photochromic electronic devices. Professor Michael C. Biewer and students will synthesize novel light-activated organic semiconducting materials incorporating a bicyclic aziridine photochromic unit. They will attach this unit as a pendant group to donor-acceptor-donor small molecules based on...

This three-year, $440,000 Project Grant from the National Science Foundation's Division of Chemistry will support research into controlling the selectivity of photochemical reactions through the use of aligning media and plane-polarized light. Professor Evgueni Nesterov of Northern Illinois University will investigate a novel method for tuning photochemistry with polarized light, which has the potential to control reaction pathways and selectivity by uniformly aligning photoreactive compounds...

Kent State University was awarded a $1,023,770 Project Grant from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Mathematical and Physical Sciences program (CFDA 47.049) to support research on structure-property relationships of new polar liquid crystalline phases. Over a three-year period from July 2022 to June 2025, the University will synthesize novel mesogens exhibiting bent core, bimesogen, and twisted core molecular geometries. Researchers will characterize the liquid crystal phases formed and...

This $524,480 Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) supports research at New York University (NYU) on developing novel semiconductor crystal materials and manufacturing processes for advanced optoelectronic applications. The key focus is on understanding how to fabricate "twisted" organic semiconductor crystals that can spontaneously form into aligned networks, enabling them to outperform single crystal materials in properties like...

This $550,000 National Science Foundation project grant will support the development of novel synthetic approaches for manufacturing optical polymers at the University of Arizona from June 2022 to May 2025. Funded through NSF's Mathematical and Physical Sciences program, principal investigators Jeffrey Pyun and Robert Norwood will investigate a new step-growth polymerization process using sulfenyl chlorides to electrophilically add to olefinic monomers. Their research aims to address the high...

This Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS) program, with an estimated value of $325,000 over 3 years starting December 1, 2023, will fund research on the properties and behaviors of complex liquid crystal materials. The Regents of the University of Minnesota will conduct theoretical and computational studies to investigate the morphology, topological defects, and non-equilibrium transport in lyotropic chromonic liquid crystals....

Federal Project Grant Award Summary The National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Materials Research has awarded Dartmouth College $596,121 under the Mathematical and Physical Sciences program (CFDA 47.049) for a three-year project (July 1, 2025 – June 30, 2028) investigating the phototuning of liquid crystal properties using photoswitchable molecules. The Aprahamian research group will conduct fundamental research to understand how light-sensitive dopants interact with liquid crystal...

This $131,977 National Science Foundation project grant supports research at the University of Colorado Boulder to develop new dimeric molecular n- and p-dopants and apply them in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). The research aims to understand the mechanism, scope, practicalities, and limitations of using photoactivation to extend the effective strength of dimeric n-dopants for OLED applications beyond their thermodynamic limits. Researchers will synthesize and characterize new dopants,...

This Project Grant award of $199,985.00 from the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science under the Office of Science Financial Assistance Program (CFDA 81.049) supports research and development by Telaztec LLC into robust nano-textured fused silica optics with multi-gigashot stability for laser applications. Telaztec, a for-profit limited liability company, has expertise in high precision nanoscale optical fabrication and coatings, and has previously received Small Business Innovation...

This Project Grant award, valued at $555,000.00 and awarded by the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Mathematical and Physical Sciences (CFDA 47.049) program, supports research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) focused on developing advanced hybrid J-aggregate nanostructures. The primary objectives are to: Investigate how silica matrices influence the brightness, stability, and excitonic behavior of J-aggregate fluorophores, and explore solvent tunability through surface...