Jean-Luc Brédas

Born May 23, 1954 in Fraire, Belgium

Regents' Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA
Extraordinary Professor, University of Mons, Belgium
Adjunct Professor, King Abdulaziz University, Saudi Arabia

Email:jean-luc.bredas@chemistry.gatech.edu
Web: external link

American Chemical Society Charles H. Stone Award (2010). Elected in the Inaugural Class of Fellows of the American Chemical Society (2009) and in the Inaugural Class of Fellows of the Materials Research Society (2008). Editor for Chemistry of Materials, published by the American Chemical Society (2008–present). Elected Fellow of: Royal Society of Chemistry, UK (2008); Optical Society of America (2003); American Association for the Advancement of Science (1998); American Physical Society (1993). Descartes Prize of the European Commission (2003). Honorary Professor, Institute of Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing (named 2003). Doctor Honoris Causa of Univ. Libre de Bruxelles (2002). Italgas Prize for Research and Technological Innovation in Applied Molecular Sciences (2001), shared with R.H. Friend. Quinquennial Prize for Exact Sciences of the Belgian National Science Foundation, FNRS (2000). Doctor Honoris Causa of Linköping Univ. (2000). Elected Member of the Royal Academy of Belgium (Corresponding Member, 1998–2000; Associate Member, 2000–Present). Francqui Prize (1997).

Author of:

Over 800 publications in international refereed journals. Co-author of two books; editor of seven books; guest-editor of special issues of Advanced Functional Materials, Accounts of Chemical Research, Chemistry of Materials, Nonlinear Optics, and Synthetic Metals.

Important Contributions:

Theoretical insight into the electronic, optical, and structural properties of π-conjugated molecular, oligomer, and polymer materials.
Depiction of the key physico-chemical processes taking place in π-conjugated materials and guidance for the development of new compounds with improved characteristics:

interpretation of the doping mechanism in conjugated polymers leading to high electrical conductivity; demonstration of the specific ways in which excess charges are stored on the polymer chains in the form of nonlinear excitations such as solitons, polarons, and bipolarons;
design of conjugated polymers with very small intrinsic band gaps;
unified description of linear and nonlinear optical response of organic chromophores;
characterization of the interfaces formed between metal or conducting oxide electrodes and organic layers;
elucidation of the structure — charge transport relationships in organic semiconductors; illustration of the impact of chemical structure and molecular packing on the reorganization energies and electronic couplings between adjacent molecules/chains;
integrated theoretical approach to the description of the electronic and optical processes taking place in organic solar cells.