University Honors

As the world population continues to grow and energy demands increase drastically, scientistshave turned to silicon (Si) as a solution. Si has become a promising substance for novel dielectricmaterials. The utilization of Si in these materials ranges from roles in insulation to intricatecapacitors and semiconductors. These materials open channels for improved energy and storagetargeting issues of energy efficiency. The integration of Si in commercial devices has remainedchallenging due to volume fluctuations which trigger destructive processes compromising theintegrity of devices. Different strategies have been evaluated to overcome these issues, amongwhich is the utilization of nanostructured silicon materials that are less sensitive to fracturing;however, no experimental studies of molecular Si materials have been reported for suchapplications. Compared to their nanoparticle analogs, Si at the molecular level are morewell-defined systems which allow Si surfaces to be studied at the nanoscale using powerful toolsprovided by synthetic chemistry. Herein, we design a hybrid organic polymer-molecular siliconcluster material for potential dielectric material applications. Specifically, this work focuses onthe synthesis of a saturated polycyclic oligosilane cluster, namely bicyclo[2.2.2]octasilanes. Weachieve this through a scalable bottom-up approach then move forward with the functionalizationof an organic polymeric binder backbone to form the aforementioned hybrid material, followedby characterization using different techniques.