I am working on the synthesis of organic multi-chromophoric molecules that find application in light-controlled devices such as chiroptical switches. Absence of metals in organic luminescent materials and the ease with which optical properties could be tuned at molecular levels, makes them highly desirable over the inorganic ones. As a part of my doctoral research, I am trying to prepare new materials that exhibit efficient energy transfer and high fluorescence quantum yields, which are the determining factors in any optical device. One of the major challenges in this field is the concentration caused quenching of the fluorescence which limits any practical application in real life scenarios. Material that remains fluorescent in their solid states have huge advantages over other luminescent systems that exhibit bright fluoresce in solution but lose it either partially or completely in solid states. Moreover, such multi-chromophoric materials can also function as chemical sensors for selective detection of analytes in biological as well as environmental samples. We are trying to develop materials that allow naked eye detection of the trace amounts of hazardous ions in water bodies that may contain contaminants coming from industrial wastes.
