Leveraging Dynamic Bonds for Property Tailoring of Functional Materials
Dr. William Skene
(Université de Montréal)

Abstract:
Conjugated materials are typically prepared using covalent bonds. The intrinsic robustness of the bonds conveys a high degree of stability to the materials, enabling their extended use as active layers in a wide range of opto-electronic devices.  While a gamut of properties is possible with materials prepared from irreversible bonds, they can neither be modified nor repaired post-preparation. This poses a major challenge for restoring the material’s properties that degrade with extensive use during device operation.  Reversible bonds provide a viable solution with property regeneration being potentially possible by reforming bonds that otherwise degrade over time.  Despite this prospect, the use of reversible bonds in conjugated materials has been overlooked. Functional materials derived from reversible bonds will therefore be presented. Their suitability in working optical-electronic devices will also be demonstrated.  It will further be shown that the intrinsic nature of the reversible bond can be harnessed for property tailoring, moving towards dynamic materials with healable properties.

BIO: 
Dr. Skene completed his BSc followed by his PhD at the University of Ottawa under the supervision of Tito Scaiano. He completed his training as a NSERC Postdoctoral Fellow at Université Louis Pasteur under the supervision of Jean-Marie Lehn in 2002 prior to joining the faculty at the Université de Montréal as an Assistant Professor in 2003. He is currently a Full Professor (2013), and has been heavily involved in service to the chemistry community (MSED, Molecules, NSERC, etc.) which has been both an enriching and learning experience. His research spans the preparation and characterization of materials that are suitable for opto/electronic applications, including the development of functional materials for use in plastic electronics.

Dr. Skene is the guest of Dr. John Oh