Endohedral metallofullerenes - filled fullerene derivatives toward multifunctional reaction center mimics

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Dirk M. Guldi
• Subject Area: Physical Chemistry of Solids and Surfaces, Material Characterisation ; Physical Chemistry of Molecules, Liquids and Interfaces, Biophysical Chemistry
• Term: from 2010 to 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 163372219

The major thrust of the project is to explore for the first time the use of endohedral metallofullerenes as multifunctional electron acceptors / traps in an interdisciplinary fashion. Such fundamental investigations of new molecular architectures are essential for future technological applications. The design principles of novel hybrid materials/devices with high structural integrity should be as simple as possible. Thus, several available suitable functional building blocks will be combined with endohedral metallofullerenes, into multifunctional molecular architectures. These investigations will provide impetus and information for the development of, for instance, a new generation of solar cells.To implement this program, it is necessary to cover topics ranging from spectroscopic investigation and materials characterization to preparative efforts. The project will benefit from our existing expertise with organic hybrid materials and supramolecular systems. In particular, our experience with chromophores and fullerene derivatives, which are the basic constituents of the architectures envisaged, will be of great value.This proposal also provides a mechanism for interdisciplinary training of scientists and students, as its success requires cooperation among groups with different complementary expertise.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants