Publications

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1

Most Significant Contributions to Research
  1. Organic Nonlinear Optical Materials For the first time, we demonstrated very large, ultrafast nonresonant third-order nonlinearity with crosslinked C60-polyurethane films. The spectral dependence of the third-order optical nonlinearity in the range of 1150–1600 nm reveals the structure-property relationship that is pertinent to applications in optical signal processing in communication systems (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2003, 125, 13648-13649; Appl. Phys. Lett. 2003, 83, 2115-2117). Our work on the 2nd-order NLO polymers has received much attention within the academic community (e.g., invited talks) and in industry (e.g., patents).

  2. Development of Novel NIR Electrochromic Polymers. We have developed a new class of metal-containing near infrared (NIR) electrochromic polymers that can be used for attenuation of NIR light signals (e.g., 1550 nm) ("Dendritic Mixed-Valence Dinuclear Ruthenium Complexes for Optical Attenuation at Telecommunication Wavelengths" Macromolecules, 2003, 36, 3146-3151; "Electrochromic Ruthenium Complex Materials for Optical Attenuation", Opt. Mater. 2003, 21(1-3), 255-263; "Novel Near Infrared Active Dinuclear Ruthenium Complex Materials: Effects of Substituents on Optical Attenuation", J. Opt. A: Pure Appl. Opt. 2002, 4, S273-S277). Our work opens a new area of research on organic materials with applications in telecommunications and photonics. In addition, we have shown that the naphthalimide-type polyimides can be used as a visible electrochromic material in pair with another electrochromic polymer (e.g., polyaniline) for display application. This work opens a route to searching for much-needed n-doped electro-active polymers for display and photonic applications, as represented in a paper of "Electrochemical Characterization, Electrochromism and Voltage-Dependent Fluorescence of Novel Perylene-Containing Polyimides" in Macromolecules (1999, 32, 8880-8885).

  3. Discovery and Development of New Curing Chemistry. The photochemistry and reactions of benzocyclobutenones (BCBO) have been studied in details and its usefulness has been demonstrated in application areas such as polymer curing and photolithography of functional polymers. This work is the basis for ongoing and future research into the chemistry of organic materials for optoelectronic and polymeric waveguide applications (e.g., catalyst-free, baking-free, photopatternable polyimide waveguides). Examples are published in Macromolecules and US and Canadian Patents, such as "New Route to Incorporation of [60]Fullerene into Polymers Via the Benzocyclobutenone Group", Macromolecules, 1998, 31, 5556-5558. A new photocrosslinking has been discovered for the acetylene-containing polymer system and described in recent publications ("Synthesis and Optical Properties of Thermally and Photochemically Crosslinkable Diacetylene-Containing Polymers", Macromolecules, 2004, 37, 147-153; "Photo-Initiated Crosslinking of Acetylene-Containing Polymers in the Presence of Tungsten Hexacarbonyl", Macromolecules, 2003, 36, 6959-6961; "Metal Catalyzed Photocrosslinking of Polymers Containing Pendant Propargyl Groups", Polymer, 2003, 44, 5527-5531).

  4. Development of Chiral Molecular Switch. We have found an important relationship between the helical structure (conjugation and dihedral angle) and optical property (rotational power) of helically chiral compounds. These chiral compounds are potentially useful as a molecular switch for optical modulation. Representative papers include: "Synthesis, Resolution and Racemization Study of Helically Twisted o-Terphenyls", Chem. Commun. 1999, 1281-1282; "A Dual-Mode Molecular Switch Based on a Chiral Binaphthyl-Coumarin Compound", Tetrahedron Lett. 2000, 41, 4025-4028; "Photo-Driven Racemization of Optically Active Polymethacrylates Films", J. Am. Chem. Soc., 1995, 117, 5377-5378.

Selected Publications

G. LeClair, Z. Y. Wang, “Optical Aattenuation at the 1550-nm Wavelength in a Reflective Mode Using Electrochromic Ruthenium Complex Film”, J. Solid State Electrochem. 2009, 13, 365-369. DOI: 10.1007/s10008-008-0562-y.

G. Qian, X. Li, Z. Y. Wang, “Visible and Near-Infrared Chemosensor for Colorimetric and Ratiometric Detection of Cyanide”, J. Mater. Chem. 2009, 19, 522-530.

G. Qian, Z. Zhong, M. Luo, D. Yu, Z. Zhang, Z. Y. Wang, D. Ma, “Simple and Efficient Near Infrared Organic Chromophores for Light-Emitting Diodes with Single Electroluminescent Emission above 1000 nm”, Adv. Mater. 2009, 21, 111-116.

Y. Xiong, H. Tang, J. Zhang, Z. Y. Wang, Jochen Campo, Wim Wenseleers, Etienne Goovaerts, “Functionalized Picolinium Quinodimethane Chromophores for Electro-Optics: Synthesis, Aggregation Behavior and Nonlinear Optical Properties”, Chem. Mater. 2008, 20, 7465–7473. DOI: 10.1021/cm802341j.

J. Ma, X. Li, H. Nguyen, W. J. Bock, Z. Y. Wang, “Dramatic Enhancing of Fluorescent Light Collection Efficiency from a Very Thin Layer of Polymer on a Planar Glass Substrate”, SPIE, 2008, 7099, 70991Z. DOI:10.1117/12.804776.

H. Sun, H. Zhang, J. Ju, J. Zhang, G. Qian, C. Wang, B. Yang, Z. Y. Wang, “One-Step Synthesis of High-Quality Gradient CdHgTe Nanocrystals: A Prerequisite to Prepare CdHgTe-Polymer Bulk Composites with Intense Near Infrared Photoluminescence”, Chem. Mater. 2008, 20, 6764–6769. DOI: 10.1021/cm8018296.

G. Qian, B. Dai, Min Luo, D. Yu, J. Zhan, Z. Zhang, D. Ma, Z. Y. Wang,, “Band-gap Tunable, Donor-Acceptor-Donor Charge Transfer Heteroquinoid-Based Chromophores: Near Infrared Photoluminescence and Electroluminescence”, Chem. Mater. 2008, 20, 6208-6216; DOI: 10.1021/cm801911n.

X. Li, A. Liu, S. Xun, W. Qiao, X. Wan, Z. Y. Wang, “Synthesis and Characterization of Near-Infrared Absorbing and Fluorescent Liquid-Crystal Chromophores”, Org. Lett. 2008, 10, 3785-3787.

J. Zheng, W. Qiao, X. Wan, J. P. Gao, Z. Y. Wang, “Near-infrared Electrochromic and Chiroptical Switching Materials: Design, Synthesis and Characterization of Chiral Organogels Containing Stacked Naphthalene Diimide Chromophores”, Chem. Mater. 2008, 20, 6163-6168; DOI: 10.1021/cm8014644.

X. Sun, J. P. Gao, Z. Y. Wang, “Bicyclic Guanidinium Tetraphenylborate: A Photobase Generator and A Photocatalyst for Living Anionic Ring-Opening Polymerization and Crosslinking of Polymeric Materials Containing Ester and Hydroxy Groups”, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2008, 130, 8130-8131.

S. Xun, J. Zhang, X. Li, D. Ma, Z. Y. Wang, “Tunable Near-Infrared Electroluminescence of Ruthenium Complexes”, Synth. Met. 2008, 158, 484-488.

F. Hasanaina, Z. Y. Wang, “New One-step Synthesis of Polyimides in Salicylic Acid”, Polymer, 2008, 49, 831-835.

W. Qiao, J. Zheng, Y. Wang, Y. Zheng, N. Song, X. Wan, Z. Y. Wang, “Efficient Synthesis and Properties of Novel Near-Infrared Electrochromic Anthraquinone Imides”, Org. Lett. 2008, 10, 641-644.

H. Sun, J. Zhang, H. Zhang, Y. Xuan, C. Wang, M. Li, Y. Tian, D. Ma, Z. Y. Wang, B. Yang, “Incorporation of Luminescent Nanocrystals into Carbazole-Containing Polymer via Electrostatic Interaction: A Novel Approach to Solution-Processable Materials with Pure White-Light Emission”, ChemPhysChem, 2006, 7, 2492 – 2496.

S. Wang, X. Li, S. Xun, X. Wan, Z. Y. Wang, “Near Infrared Electrochromic and Electroluminescent Polymers Containing Pendant Ruthenium Complex Groups”, Macromolecules, 2006, 39, 7502-7507.

H. Tang, J. P. Gao, Y. Xiong, Z. Y. Wang, “Self-Assembled, Discrete Organic Tubular Crystals with Controllable Sizes by Simple Sublimation”, Crystal Growth & Design, 2006, 6, 1559-1562.

S. Xun, G. LeClair, J. Zhang, X. Chen, J. P. Gao, Z. Y. Wang, “Tuning the Electrical and Optical Properties of Dinuclear Ruthenium Complexes for Near Infrared Optical Sensing”, Org. Lett. 2006, 8, 1697-1700.

A. M.R. Beaudin, N. Song, Y. Bai, L. Men, J. P. Gao, Z. Y. Wang, M. Szablewski, G. Cross, W. Wenseleers, J. Campo, E. Goovaerts, “Synthesis and Properties of Zwitterionic Nonlinear Optical Chromophores with Large Hyperpolarizability for Poled Polymer Applications”, Chem. Mater. 2006, 18, 1079-1084.

J. P.M. Serbena, I. A. Hmmelgen, T. Hadizad, Z. Y. Wang, “Hybrid Permeable-Base Transistors Based on an Indenofluorene Derivative”, Small, 2006, 2, 372-374.