Antoine Kahn

Position
Stephen C. Macaleer '63 Professor in Engineering and Applied Science
Role
Vice Dean, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Office Phone
Office
B420 Engineering Quadrangle
Education
  • Ph.D., Princeton University, 1978
  • M.S., Electrical Engineering, Princeton University, 1976
  • Diploma of Engineer in Electronics, Institut National Polytechnique de Grenoble, 1974
Advisee(s):
Bio/Description

Stephen C. Macaleer '63 Professor in Engineering and Applied Science
Vice Dean, School of Engineering and Applied Science
Associated Faculty in the Princeton Materials Institute (PMI)

My research programs center on the electronic, chemical, structural and electrical properties of materials relevant to thin-film electronic devices. My interests span a range of semiconductor materials (elemental and compounds), but my current work focuses specifically on organic molecular and polymer semiconductors, dielectrics developed for applications in organic and molecular electronics, and the hot new class of optoelectronic materials called hybrid metal halide perovskites (MHP). Our group is particularly interested in engineering materials and interfaces that improve the performance of devices, with application to organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), field effect transistors (OFETs), organic photovoltaic cells (OPVs), MHP-based solar cells and light emitting diodes, and other thin-film devices applicable to large-area, flexible electronics.
 
On the organic scene, the quasi-infinite possibilities for chemical synthesis of new organic molecular compounds, combined with the unmatched ease of fabrication of organic semiconductor films by vacuum evaporation, liquid processing or printing on a variety of substrates, give organic semiconductors key advantages over other semiconductor materials, and open tremendous opportunities for innovation in device structures. Our research spans fundamental issues of electron-hole interaction in molecular semiconductors; chemistry and electronic structure of metal-organic and organic-organic heterojunctions; physics, implementation and impact of chemical (n- and p-) doping to control conductivity and carrier injection.
 
On the metal halide perovskite side, our work contributes to a better understanding of surface and interface properties of these fascinating materials. We are investigating their interfaces with metal oxides and organics (small molecules and polymers alike), which are all central to device performance.
 
Our group is involved in extensive collaborations with synthetic chemists, theoreticians, and device physicists in the US, Asia, and Europe, in academia, national laboratories, and industry. Our approach involves a variety of spectroscopic techniques for determining electronic structures, charge carrier transport measurements, morphological and structural tools, and device fabrication.

Selected Publications
  1. Combined experimental and theoretical investigation of the quantum well energetics in n=2 Ruddlesden Popper phase perovskites, Scott Silver, Qingqing Dai, Hong Li, Jean-Luc Brédas, Antoine Kahn, Adv. Energ. Mat. 1901005 (2019) DOI: 10.1002/aenm.201901005

  2. Sensitization of silicon by singlet exciton fission in tetracene, Markus Einzinger, Tony Wu, Hannah L. Smith, Collin F. Perkinson, Lea Nienhaus, Sarah Wieghold, Daniel N. Congreve, Antoine Kahn, Moungi G. Bawendi, Marc A. Baldo, Nature, 571, 90 (2019) DOI: 10.1038/s41586-019-1339-4

  3. Molecular reductant-induced control of a graphene-organic interface for electron injection, Fengyu Zhang, Chen Klein, Elena Longhi, Stephen Barlow, Seth R. Marder, Gabby Sarusi and Antoine Kahn, Chem. Mat. (accepted for publication, 3/14/2019) DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemmater.9b00566

  4. Investigation of the high electron affinity molecular dopant F6-TCNNQ for hole-transport materials, Fengyu Zhang and Antoine Kahn, Adv. Funct. Mat. 28, 1703780 (2018) DOI: 10.1002/adfm.201703780

  5. Beating the Thermodynamic Limit: Photo-Activation of n-Doping in Organic Semiconductors, Xin Lin, Berthold Wegner, Kyung M. Lee, Michael A. Fusella, Fengyu Zhang, Karttikay Moudgil, Barry P. Rand, Stephen Barlow, Seth R. Marder, Norbert Koch and Antoine Kahn, Nature Materials 16, 1209 (2017) DOI: 10.1038/nmat5027

Google Scholar Profile

Honors and Awards:

  • Fellow, School of Engineering of the University of Tokyo, Japan (elected, December 2015)
  • Stephen C. Macaleer ’63 Professor in Engineering and Applied Science (July 1, 2015)
  • Weston Visiting Professorship, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel (2015-2018)
  • Listed among the “World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds”, Thomson Reuters 2014
  • Weston Visiting Professorships, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel (2009-2012)
  • Fellow of the American Physical Society (elected, 2002)
  • Fellow of the American Vacuum Society (elected, 1999)
  • Presidential Young Investigator Award (National Science Foundation), 1984-1989.
Research Areas
Applied Physics
Energy & Environment
Materials & Devices