Nikko Chan

Post Graduate

Complex Fluids Group
Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering     
Room 2.27, Second Floor, Building 165     
The University of Melbourne
Victoria 3010 Australia 

Email: n.chan3@pgrad.unimelb.edu.au 
Tel: (03) 8344 4888
Fax: (03) 8344 4153 

Parkville Campus Map

Current Research Activities

“Nano-assembly of light emitting polymer films”

Light emitting polymers are a form of conjugated polymers, which have a backbone of conjugated bonds that allow the molecules to transfer electrons like a semi-conducting material. The focus of this project is on fluorescent conjugated polymers, which have fluorescent properties and are capable of producing electroluminescence.

Fluorescent conjugated polymers have a wide range of applications, such as for use in light emitting devices in the form of polymer light emitting diodes or flexible display screens, and in photovoltaic cells. Conjugated polymers have advantages over traditional semi-conducting materials due to ease of processing and desirable mechanical properties.

It has been proposed that orientation of polymer molecules will increase the efficiency of fluorescence and improve the performance of devices made from these polymers. Tensile stretching was identified as a simple method of molecule orientation, so experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of polymer film stretching on the fluorescence performance. Single molecule spectroscopy techniques such as Confocal Microscopy and Near-field Scanning Optical Microscopy will be employed to further investigate the underlying photophysics of the conjugated polymers.

The key objectives of this project are to understand the underlying photophysics of fluorescent conjugated polymers using single molecule spectroscopy techniques, and to investigate processing methods to achieve light emitting thin films with molecular orientation.

Other Activities

• 2007 PACE Committee President

Professional Memberships

• Member of Postgraduate Association of Chemical Engineering
• Particulate Fluids Processing Centre – ARC Special Research Centre