• Investigating the solid-state structure of supramolecular BODIPY-complexes (Jörn Droste)

  In the project fluorescent BODIPY dyes are investigated. By substitution of the BODIPY core, e.g. with aromatic OPE ligands, supramolecular structures are formed influencing the optical properties. The structure of the BODIPY compounds is determined by homo- and heteronuclear 2D solid state NMR experiments of various NMR-active nuclei (1H, 11B, 13C and 19F).

  

• Water and Alcohol Dynamics in Nafion: Hydration-Level Dependent Characterization with NMR (Regine Hammer)

  Perfluorinated sulfonic-acid (PFSA) membranes are polymers known for their high ionic conductivity and mechanical stability. The most popular PFSA membrane is Nafion, which was developed by DuPont in the 1970s. Since then, it has been used in electrochemical applications, like low-temperature fuel cells and chlorine-alkali electrolysis. For the given application, the understanding of local molecular environments and the nano-morphological structure plays a crucial role for improvement of the performance and electrochemical properties. In this work, we have characterized Nafion 117 membranes at different stages of hydration via temperature-dependent 1H T1 relaxation and 1H PFG NMR experiments. The analysis of 1H T1 relaxation data contain information about the activation energy, motional correlation time and internuclear distance of the short range motions. In contrast, the 1H PFG NMR data contain information about the long-range motions.

• NMR characterization of aromatic polymers (Philipp Selter)

  In the project the conformation and molecular packing of electrically conductive, aromatic donor acceptor polymers is investigated using different solid-state NMR methods, e.g. 1H, 19F and 13C MAS NMR as well as various 2D correlation experiments. In addition, theoretical packing models are developed using DFT and compared with the experimental data.

  

  

• NMR investigation of OPE-based Pt-complexes (Philipp Selter)

  The aim of this project is to obtain information on the aggregation of OPE-based platinum complexes and the underlying effects. A combination of various 13C and 1H solid-state NMR methods, 195Pt ultra-wideline NMR and DFT calculations is used.