Research

The research in our lab primarily focuses on the molecular design and synthesis of functional organic materials, strategically integrating visible-light-responsive photoswitches into liquid crystalline (LC) architectures to optimize solar energy utilization, bypassing the limitations of low UV irradiance. Synthesized compounds are systematically characterized to elucidate structure-property relationships: 

The current central research objectives encompass: 

• Enhancing solar-thermal energy conversion efficiency by optimizing photoisomerization kinetics and maximizing the population of metastable isomers; 

• Extending the half-life of these metastable states to improve energy storage duration; 

• Achieving controlled and efficient heat release through manipulation of LC mesophases and dopant concentrations; and 

• Expanding the operational temperature range of STFs to include sub-zero environments.