About

Seth Marder is a Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder and serves as the Director of RASEI. He holds a BA in Chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1981) and a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin at Madison (1985). His areas of expertise include polymers, surface chemistry, covalent organic frameworks, chiral materials, and dopants. Throughout his career, Professor Marder has received numerous awards and honors, including the Humboldt Research Award in 2018, the Class of 1934 Distinguished Professor Award at Georgia Tech in 2018, and election as a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors in 2016. He has also been recognized as a Fellow of the Materials Research Society and has held visiting and guest professorships at institutions such as the University of Strasbourg and Wuhan University. His research focuses on advancing materials science, particularly in organic electronics and photonics, and he is actively involved in leading research groups at the University of Colorado Boulder.

Research topics

• Optoelectronics
• Materials science
• Optics
• Chemistry
• Physics
• Chemical physics
• Thermodynamics
• Composite material
• Organic chemistry
• Photochemistry
• Polymer chemistry
• Chemical engineering
• Computational chemistry
• Nanotechnology
• Quantum mechanics
• Crystallography
• Electrical engineering
• Physical chemistry
• Meteorology

Selected publications

• Elucidating Charge Carrier Reactivity, Conversion, and Degradation in n-Doped Oligo- and Poly(benzodifurandione)

  Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2025-05-21 · 2 citations

  article

  n-Doped poly(benzodifurandione) (n-PBDF) has gained significant attention due to its solution processability and high electrical conductivity. However, the nature of charge carriers in n-PBDF remains poorly understood. In this study, we investigated a series of oligo(benzodifurandiones) (BFD1, BFD2, and BFD3), using previously reported BFD1 and BFD2 alongside newly synthesized BFD3, with a particular focus on the charged species of BFD3. Neutral BFD3 was successfully reduced to its hydride-adduct anion (BFD3H–), radical anion (BFD3•–), and dianion (BFD32–), the latter two behaving similarly to polarons and bipolarons respectively in n-PBDF. We conducted a characterization of their optical, electrochemical, and structural properties, and examined their interconversion and reactivity. Mass spectrometry analysis and absorption spectroscopy revealed that the BFD32– backbone undergoes degradation when further reduced, with proposed structural assignments for several degradation products. Notably, similar reactivity and degradation pathways were also identified in the polymeric system n-PBDF. These findings provide critical insights into the stability and reactivity of n-type charge carriers in π-conjugated polymers, establishing a foundation for future strategies to optimize doping levels and mitigate degradation in n-type organic electronic materials.

  PublisherDOI

• P-Type Doping of Mixed Tin–Lead Halide Perovskites Using Electron Transfer to Mo(tfd-COCF3) ₃ and F ₄ TCNQ

  ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces · 2025-12-10 · 2 citations

  article

  demonstrating similar doping efficiencies (associated with the ratio of mobile charges added to the number of dopant molecules incorporated) of 0.031(3) % and 0.024(3) %, respectively. Differences in the doping effectiveness for a given molarity doping solution likely follow from variations in dopant incorporation within the film during the spin coating deposition step.

  PublisherDOI

• Surface Passivation for Halide Optoelectronics: Comparing Optimization and Reactivity of Amino-Silanes with Formamidinium

  Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2025-11-07 · 1 citations

  article

  ) cations in solution and in the solid state. This work underscores the importance of optimizing deposition conditions to balance effective passivation with potential performance loss and elucidates previously unrecognized reactive chemistry between amino-silane passivating agents and halide perovskites.

  PublisherDOI

• Deposition-Dependent Coverage and Performance of Phosphonic Acid Interface Modifiers in Halide Perovskite Optoelectronics

  ArXiv.org · 2025-06-24

  preprintOpen access

  In this work, we study the effect of various deposition methods for phosphonic acid interface modifiers commonly pursued as self-assembled monolayers in high-performance metal halide perovskite photovoltaics and light-emitting diodes. We compare the deposition of (2-(3,6-diiodo-9H-carbazol-9-yl)ethyl)phosphonic acid onto indium tin oxide (ITO) bottom contacts by varying three parameters: the method of deposition, specifically spin coating or prolonged dip coating, ITO surface treatment via HCl/FeCl3 etching, and use in combination with a second modifier, 1,6-hexylenediphosphonic acid. We demonstrate that varying these modification protocols can impact time-resolved photoluminescence carrier lifetimes and quasi-Fermi level splitting of perovskite films deposited onto the phosphonic-acid-modified ITO. Ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy shows an increase in effective work function after phosphonic acid modification and clear evidence for photoemission from carbazole functional groups at the ITO surface. We use X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy to probe differences in phosphonic acid coverage on the metal oxide contact and show that perovskite samples grown on ITO with the highest phosphonic acid coverage exhibit the longest carrier lifetimes. Finally, we establish that device performance follows these same trends. These results indicate that the reactivity, heterogeneity, and composition of the bottom contact help to control recombination rates and therefore power conversion efficiencies. ITO etching, prolonged deposition times for phosphonic acids via dip coating, and the use of a secondary, more hydrophilic bis-phosphonic acid, all contribute to improvements in surface coverage, carrier lifetime, and device efficiency. These improvements each have a positive impact, and we achieve the best results when all three strategies are implemented.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Atomic-Scale Electric Potential Landscape across Molecularly Gated Bilayer MoS₂ Resolved by Photoemission

  ACS Nano · 2025-09-08

  articleOpen access

  Electric gating in atomically thin field-effect devices based on transition-metal dichalcogenides has recently been employed to manipulate their excitonic states, even producing exotic phases of matter, such as an excitonic insulator or Bose–Einstein condensate. Here, we mimic the electric gating effect of a bilayer-MoS2 on graphite by charge transfer induced by the adsorption of molecular p- and n-type dopants. The electric fields produced are evaluated from the electronic energy-level realignment and Stark splitting determined by X-ray and UV photoelectron spectroscopy measurements and compare very well with literature values obtained by optical spectroscopy for similar systems. We then show that analysis of the inhomogeneous broadening and energy shifts of the quantum-well states of the valence band allows extraction of the full electric potential profile and charge-density redistribution across the entire heterojunction with atomic-scale precision, which is not accessible by other methods.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Symmetry Breaking Induced by Chiral Phosphonic Acids in a 2D Tin-Halide Perovskite

  Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2025-09-29 · 6 citations

  articleOpen accessCorresponding

  ). We found that both the position of the phosphonic acid relative to the bond between the two naphthalene rings (i.e., the chiral axis) and the distance between the phosphonic acid and the binaphthyl chiral units significantly impact the transfer of structural chirality into the MHP lattice. The compound with a phosphonic acid directly bound to one of the naphthalene rings at the carbon adjacent to the chiral axis resulted in the largest circular dichroism dissymmetry factor of the three phosphonic acids. Furthermore, optical pump-terahertz probe measurements reveal an increase in the charge carrier mobility in the MHPs following the addition of CPAs. This dual functionality of CPAs in inducing chirality and improving charge transport properties in MHPs is promising for chiral-optoelectronic applications.

  PublisherDOI

• Author response for "Polymer nanoparticle photocatalysts realized in non-aqueous solvents"

  2025-04-23

  peer-review
  PublisherDOI

• Deposition-Dependent Coverage and Performance of Phosphonic Acid Interface Modifiers in Halide Perovskite Optoelectronics

  ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces · 2025-11-26

  article

  In this work, we study the effect of various deposition methods for phosphonic acid interface modifiers commonly pursued as self-assembled monolayers in high-performance metal halide perovskite photovoltaics and light-emitting diodes. We compare the deposition of (2-(3,6-diiodo-9H-carbazol-9-yl)ethyl)phosphonic acid onto indium tin oxide (ITO) bottom contacts by varying three parameters: the method of deposition, specifically spin coating or prolonged dip coating; ITO surface treatment via HCl/FeCl3 etching; and use in combination with a second modifier, 1,6-hexylenediphosphonic acid. We demonstrate that varying these modification protocols can impact time-resolved photoluminescence carrier lifetimes and quasi-Fermi level splitting of perovskite films deposited onto the phosphonic acid-modified ITO. Ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy shows an increase in the effective work function after phosphonic acid modification and clear evidence for photoemission from carbazole functional groups at the ITO surface. We used X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy to probe differences in phosphonic acid coverage on the metal oxide contact and show that perovskite samples grown on ITO with the highest phosphonic acid coverage exhibit the longest carrier lifetimes. Finally, we establish that device performance follows these same trends. These results indicate that the reactivity, heterogeneity, and composition of the bottom contact help to control recombination rates and therefore power conversion efficiencies. ITO etching, prolonged deposition times for phosphonic acids via dip coating, and the use of a secondary, more hydrophilic bisphosphonic acid all contribute to improvements in surface coverage, carrier lifetime, and device efficiency. These improvements each have a positive impact, and we achieve the best results when all three strategies are implemented.

  PublisherDOI

• Layer-by-layer epitaxial growth of perovskite heterostructures with tunable band offsets

  Science · 2025-11-13 · 11 citations

  article

  Halide perovskites exhibit superior optoelectronic properties but lack precise thickness and band offset control in heterojunctions, which is critical for modular multilayer architectures such as multiple quantum wells. We demonstrate vapor-phase, layer-by-layer heteroepitaxial growth exemplified by CsPbBr 3 deposition on single crystals of PEA 2 PbBr 4 (PEA: 2-phenylethylammonium). Angstrom-level thickness control and subangstrom smooth layers enable quantum-confined photoluminescence of CsPbBr 3 from monolayer, bilayer, and through to bulk. The interfacial structure controls the electronic structure from a Cs‒PEA-terminated interface (type II heterojunction) to a PEA‒PEA-terminated interface (type I heterojunction), with a layer-tunable band offset shift exceeding 0.5 electron volts. Electron transfer from CsPbBr 3 to PEA 2 PbBr 4 for a type II Cs‒PEA heterojunction results in delayed electron-hole recombination beyond 10 microseconds. Precise quantum confinement control and large band offset tunability unlock perovskite heterojunctions as platforms for scalable, superlattice-based optoelectronic applications.

  PublisherDOI

• Polymer nanoparticle photocatalysts realized in non-aqueous solvents

  Sustainable Energy & Fuels · 2025-01-01 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access

  Solvent transfer procedure for moving polymer nanoparticles from water into non-aqueous solvents preserves colloidal stability and charge generation, expanding opportunities for diverse redox photocatalysis.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• Collaborative Research: Development of Dimeric Molecular n- and p-Dopants and their Application in Organic Light-emitting Diodes

  NSF · $650k · 2018–2022

• Collaborative Research: Development of Dimeric Molecular n- and p-Dopants and their Application in Organic Light-emitting Diodes

  NSF · $132k · 2022–2023

• Studies of Metal-Organic and Organic Charge-Transport for Plastic Opto-Electronics

  NSF · $486k · 2003–2007

• Synthetic and Mechanistic Studies of Air-Stable Organometallic Dimers as n-Dopants for Organic Electronics

  NSF · $358k · 2013–2017

Frequent coauthors

• Stephen Barlow

  University of Colorado Boulder

  1166 shared

• Jean‐Luc Brédas

  University of Arizona

  501 shared

• Joseph W. Perry

  356 shared

• Bernard Kippelen

  Georgia Institute of Technology

  351 shared

• Tatiana V. Timofeeva

  New Mexico Highlands University

  195 shared

• Chad Risko

  151 shared

• David J. Hagan

  University of Central Florida

  141 shared

• Xiaowei Zhan

  Peking University

  141 shared

Education

• B.A., Chemistry

  Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  1981

• Ph.D., Chemistry

  University of Wisconsin at Madison

  1985

Awards & honors

• Humboldt Research Award (2018)
• Class of 1934 Distinguished Professor Award, Georgia Tech (2…
• Elected Fellow, National Academy of Inventors (2016)
• Materials Research Society Mid-Career Award (2015)
• Thank a Teacher certificate, Georgia Tech (2014)