Center for Advanced 2D Organic Networks

Ordered 2D organic polymers and covalent organic frameworks (COFs) show strong potential for applications in electronics and optoelectronics, and the modular design principles of COF allow for theoretically limitless 2D growth. However, fundamental synthetic and characterization challenges remain in the design of new networks, control over 2D sheet size, establishing structure–property relationships, and integration into devices. Our team will design new synthetic methods for COF preparation, such as our recently discovered technique for film growth via flow cell, made possible by homogeneous synthesis conditions identified in the first mechanistic studies of COF formation. Improved understanding of the interplay between COF nucleation and growth will inform advanced synthesis techniques used for new COF monomers and linkage chemistries. Systems will be developed to increase conductivity and stimuli responsiveness, such as through the design of hybrid, mixed-linker networks. The chemical doping of semiconducting 2D COFs will be used to strategically modify charge-carrier density and increase electronic delocalization to probe potential magnetic and spintronic applications. We will design 3D architectures incorporating 2D polymers with emerging 2D inorganic materials, such as transition metal dichalcogenides and graphene, providing a means to modify the material band structure through moiré superlattices. Our advanced characterization capabilities allow exploration of these architectures for a variety of applications such as ultra-thin tunnel barriers and beyond-CMOS switches. We will also explore the use of 2D polymer patterns as a means for nanometer-scale surface lithography.