Brendan J. Gifford

I am initially from northwestern Wisconsin. I received my bachelors degree in 2011 from The University of Wisconsin: Stevens Point.

My favorite hobbies are watching movies and kayaking.

A bit about my projects:

Single Walled Carbon Nanotubes (SWCNTs) show promise for integration in numerous electronic devices. Synthesis of SWCNTs results in a range of diameters and chiralities exiting in any sample. Because the electronic and optical properties of SWCNTs is dependent on the precise geometry of the tub, utilization in a device would first require separation of SWCNTs into distinct chiralities. Experimentalists have numerous methods of accomplishing this, many of which utilize polymers to "wrap" around SWCNTs and to aid in solvation and dispersion. In one project we computationally determine which polymers best interact with various SWNTs to aid such experimental efforts. We also investigate the electronic structure of the resulting wrapped SWCNTs. Iridium complexes also have a wide range of possible applications in electronic devices due to the strong spin-orbit coupling of iridium. The precise application of an individual complex is greatly dependent on the nature of the optical transitions it undergoes. In a collaboration with Dr. Wenfang Sun (North Dakota State University: Department of Chemistry), we computationally characterize the nature of the optical transitions undergone by a series of recently synthesized complexes. The overall goal is to characterize the effects of systematic synthetic modification with functional groups of different natures.