"The Chemists’ Approach to Carbon Materials"Professor Klaus Müllen

Max-Planck-Institute for Polymer Research, Mainz 55128, Germanymuellen@mpip-mainz.mpg.de

Utilization of organic -systems as semiconductor components for electronic and optoelectronic devices requires a

careful molecular design and a complex supramolecular architecture. In our synthesis-driven approach toward

molecular electronics, the dimensionality and size of molecules serve as key guidelines, so that we proceed from

1D- conjugated polymers (chains) and 3D- polyphenylenes (dendrimers) to 2D- giant graphenes. Various devices

are considered such as sensors, field effect transistors, and solar cells whose performances are discussed in terms

of the molecular and supramolecular design. Single molecule field effect transistors and single photon emitters

for cryptography are introduced as fascinating chemistry-based examples.

Benzene-based macromolecules also serve as carbon-rich reservoirs for the pyrolytic formation of carbonaceous

materials and their corresponding carbon-metal nanocomposites. Control of the resulting materials becomes

possible by introducing appropriate precursors and by utilizing reactions in confined geometries and designed

carbomesophases. Some typical applications of the new materials will be shown such as lithium storage or

catalysis and their function as electrically conducting, transparent window electrodes.

* Stephanie Kwolek is a CMU alumna (MM’46) renowned for her invention of Kevlar®, a bulletproof fiber five times stronger than

steel. She is a recipient of a National Medal of Technology (1996), Perkin Medal (1997) and Lemelson MIT Prize (1999). In 2003

she was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame.

Prof. Dr. Klaus Müllen is one of the directors of Max-Planck-Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz, Germany (since 1989). He obtained a Diplom-Chemiker degree at the University of Cologne in 1969 after work with Professor E. Vogel. His Ph.D. degree was granted by the University of Basel, Switzerland, in 1972 where he undertook research with Professor F. Gerson on twisted π - Systems and EPR spectroscopic properties of the corresponding radical anions. In 1972 he joined the group of Professor J.F.M. Oth at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich where he worked in the field of dynamic NMR spectroscopy and electrochemistry. He received his habilitation from the ETH Zürich in 1977 and was appointed Privatdozent. In 1979 he became a Professor in the Department of Organic Chemistry, University of Cologne, and accepted an offer of a chair in Organic Chemistry at the University of Mainz in 1983. He is also a current President of the German Chemical Society.