Safer Flexible and Transparent Conducting Films

Associate Professor Sanjeev Manohar and his research team are working to design eco-friendly coatings based on electronic organic materials with superior optical, electronic and barrier properties.  These coatings have potential as eco-friendly alternatives to the expensive and environmentally unsafe coatings of indium-tin-oxide (ITO) commonly used in optoelectronics. Other applications include their use in pressure sensitive coatings for laminates and emboss films, as superhydrophobic antifouling films used in smart apparel and medical catheters, as polymeric surface providing dynamic corrosion resistance of copper in printed circuit boards (surface finish application).  Dr. Manohar's team is evaluating graphene oxide (GO), reduced graphene oxide (r-GO), conducting polymers and functionalized single-walled carbon nanotube bundles (CNT).