Understanding the Basic Physics of Molecular and Nanoscale Electronics

Molecular and nanoscale electronics are exceptionally versatile materials due to ability to tune their electronic properties by changing chemical functionalization or molecular size and shape. Due to their small size, dynamics that occur at surfaces and interfaces within these materials often have a disproportionate influence over their properties. The Roberts group seeks to understand how interfacial interactions impact the electronic properties of these materials.

While members of our group work on an array of chemical problems, the theme that runs through each is that we develop new ways of utilizing time-resolved nonlinear spectroscopy to separate dynamics that occur in different areas of the materials we study.