Objective
Molecular sciences offer unparalleled opportunities for the development of tailor-made materials. By chemical design, molecules with the desired features can be prepared and incorporated into hybrid systems to yield molecule-based materials with novel chemical and/or physical properties. The CHEMCOMP project aims to develop new hybrid materials targeting the study of new physical phenomena that have already been theoretically predicted or experimentally hinted. The main goals will be:
i) Molecules with memory: Memory effect at the molecular scale is of great interest because it represents the size limit in the miniaturization of information storage media. My goal will be to develop spin crossover molecules with bulk-like hysteretic behavior where the switching between the low spin ground state and the high spin metastable state can be controlled through external stimuli.
ii) Bistable organic conductors: Bistable molecules could also be embedded into hybrid organic conductors to induce structural phase transitions. This strategy will allow for the transport properties to be controlled through external stimuli in unprecedented switchable conducting media.
iii) Hybrid conducting magnets: Combination of magnetism and electrical conductivity has given rise to new phenomena in the past, such as spin glass behavior or giant magnetoresistance. We propose to incorporate Single Molecule Magnets (molecules with magnet-like behavior) into organic (super)conductors to understand and optimize the synergy between these two physical properties.
iv) Chiral magnets and conductors: New phenomena is expected to appear in optically active media. Experimental evidence for the so-called MagnetoChiral Dichroism has already been found. Electrical Magnetochiral Anisotropy has been predicted. I will develop systematic strategies for the preparation of hybrid chiral materials to understand and optimize the synergy between chirality and bulk physical properties.
Fields of science
Call for proposal
ERC-2011-StG_20101014
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Funding Scheme
ERC-SG - ERC Starting GrantHost institution
43007 Tarragona
Spain