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FemtoMat

FemtoMat

Who we are

We are a young and dynamic research group based in Bern, Switzerland, and led by Prof. Natalie Banerji. In our group, chemists as well as physicists and material scientists work side by side to understand and optimize electronic devices based on organic electronic materials. In addition, we combine the best of two worlds by welcoming researchers from all over the world and by teaching local students from Bern.

This combination of different backgrounds and experiences forms a powerful symbiosis that enables us to understand the underlying principles of charge transport in the materials we study.

Our research interests

Our objective is to understand fundamental material properties (e.g., light–matter interactions, electron transfer processes, charge transport, molecular recognition) of organic and hybrid semiconductors, with applications in new generation solar cells, organic transistors, and organic bioelectronics. The current gap between missing fundamental understanding and the blind development of applications needs to be filled in order to achieve intelligent design of high-performance devices.

Our research revolves around the central question of what happens on the ultrashort time scale and ultrasmall length scale in organic solids to induce macroscopic function in devices, and how this can be optimized. Experimentally, we use a complementary palette of techniques combining (time-resolved) spectroscopy, pulsed photocurrent methods, terahertz experiments, Stark-effect spectroscopy, and device testing.

News

  • Kaila and Demetra presented at ICP 2021!

    Demetra participated in the virtual ICP 2021 conference where she presented her work on Ultrafast Photoinduced Intermolecular Charge Transfer  in Doped TAPC Films. Kaila presented her work on the excited state behavior of non-fullerene acceptors in solutions, films, and devices.

  • NCCR Women in Science Campaign

    FemtoMat is proud of our Women in Science! Check out our three PhD students Eva, Priscila, and Kaila in their contribution to the NCCR Women in Science campaign!

  • New PhD Student!

    FemtoMat is happy to welcome Cedric Hoffman to our group of researchers! Check our “people” section to read about him and the rest of our team!

  • EMRS Talks from Natalie and Olivier!

    Olivier’s work on the effect of polymer sidechains on transistor response time was presented at the EMRS 2021 conference. Natalie contributed invited talk on spectroscopy of organic semiconductors.

  • MRS Spring 2021 Poster

    Kaila was able to present her work on Charge Transport in Non-Fullerene Acceptors at the Spring MRS 2021 Virtual Conference! The poster presentation can be viewed on demand as part of the EL.01.02 Symposium.

  • NCCR MUST Women in Science!

    Kaila, Eva, and Priscila are working to inspire the next generation of women in science with their outreach work with the NCCR MUST! Don’t miss their video on YouTube this summer!

  • New Research Published!

    Discover the ultrafast charge transfer dynamics at origin of photoconductivity in doped organic solids by clicking here to read all about the work Demetra carried out with our collaborators in Noel Giebink’s lab at Penn State!

  • New Research Published!

    Julien’s idea on applying time-domain ptychography to Sum Frequency Generation spectroscopy has been published! Click here for the full article. Thanks to Tobias Schweizer and Prof. Thomas Feurer from the Institute of Applied Physics, and to Bruno and Priscila for the experimental support.

  • New PhD Student!

    FemtoMat is so happy to welcome Fred back to the group to continue his work on Organic Electrochemical Transistors!

  • Just Accepted!

    Gareth’s work on dilute-donor solar cells has been accepted! Read about it in this issue of Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters! Click here for the article.