Synthesis of Boron and Nitrogen-doped pi-Conjugated Carbon Nanostructures

  • Jonathan Tasseroul

Student thesis: Doc typesDoctor of Sciences

Abstract

This research thesis is focusing on the synthesis and studies of novel organic mate- rials for organic electronics applications. In particular, we will create doped hexa- peri-hexabenzocoronenes (HBCs) featuring an alternating B-N cycle, or borazinic cycle, forming hexa-peri-hexabenzoborazinocoronenes (HBBNCs).
In the rst chapter of the manuscript, we will rst dive into the history of borazines in the literature, including the main synthetic methods used for their production, as well as their chemical properties and materials applications. Next, the second chapter will discuss recent prototype electronic devices using boron-nitrogen based materials such as azaborines and BN-doped graphene.
The third chapter of the manuscript will describe the target molecule we have chosen to build, the hexa-peri-hexabenzoborazinocoronene (HBBNC).
Three synthetic pathways leading to the target HBBNCs will be developed: one will use hexasubstituted borazines as building blocks; the second will go through the construction of a spherand-like cyclohexa-meta-phenylene; and the last will make use of azaborine- type precursors, which was developed in collaboration with François Simon, master student from the University of Namur.
The fourth and last chapter of the manuscript will delve into molecule-substrate inter- face studies we realised by scanning tunnelling microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spec- troscopy on borazine derivatives, in collaboration with Dr. Simon Kervyn de Meerendré, a former member of our group who kickstarted the synthesis of borazinic compounds, Prof. Dr. Tim S. Jones, Dr. Nataliya Kalashnyk, Ben Moreton, James Lawrence, and Daniel Warr from the group of Prof. Dr. Giovanni Costantini (University of Warwick, United Kingdom) who performed the STM measurements, Dr. Massimo Riello from the group of Prof. Dr. Alessandro De Vita who undertook the theoretical studies (King’s College London, United Kingdom), and Dr. Giovanni Di Santo, Dr. Paolo Lacovig, Dr. Andrea Goldoni, and Dr. Silvano Lizzit who helped and supervised the fastXPS measurements on the SuperESCA beamline of Elettra Sinchrotrone, Trieste, Italy.
Date of AwardApr 2016
Original languageEnglish
Awarding Institution
  • University of Namur
SponsorsFund for Research Training in Industry and Agriculture (FRIA)
SupervisorDavide BONIFAZI (Supervisor)

Keywords

  • Organic chemistry
  • organic electronics
  • Synthesis

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