This workshop will cover different aspects of the bottom-up design of electronic materials from assemblies of metal and semiconductor nanocrystals, drawing on existing expertise in organic and disordered conductors. These nanocrystalline solids combine unusual optical, electronic, magnetic and themla properties. Potential applications include photodetectors, LED, solar-cells, thermoelectric and printable electronics.
Important challenges involve the understanding, and also the improvement of electronic transport in these materials. The theoretical framework involves metal-insulator transitions, transport through disordered localized states and percolation phenomena. Thus, an interdisciplinary approach spanning from synthetic chemistry to condensed matter physics will be required. Progress in the field requires increased communication between the physics community studying these phenomena either theoretically or using model systems, and the materials chemistry community.
The goal of the workshop is to bring together scientists working in different areas related to this topic and to promote the exchange of ideas between different research communities.