From Luminescent Dyes to Functional Structures: Designing Responsive Hybrid Materials and Exploring Electron-Beam Perspectives

Date

Apr 9, 2026

Time

1:00 PM - 3:00 PM

Speaker

Maria Zdończyk

Affiliation

E-BEAM Centre at VSB – Technical University of Ostrava (Czech Republic)

Series

TUD nanoSeminar

Language

en

Main Topic

Physik

Other Topics

Physik

Host

Arezoo Dianat

Description

Responsive hybrid materials may appear simple in their final form, for example as a colored spot, a luminescent layer, or a patterned microstructure. Their function is encoded in how dyes are confined, how local polarity and sol–gel chemistry evolve over time, and how structure emerges during processing. This talk presents a research path from dye chemistry to functional sol–gel and ionogel architectures designed for application-relevant, eye-readable readouts, with an outlook on the possible use of electron beams for structuring and spatially controlling responsive hybrid materials.
 The talk starts with silica-based hosts doped with xanthene dyes and shows how molecular photophysics can be translated into robust optical response under practical constraints[1]. This includes dye impregnation routes for luminescent food-spoilage sensing[2] and annealed sol–gel layers where emission can be tuned through concentration and remains stable at elevated temperatures[3]. The next part moves to silica ionogels, where the ionic liquid stops being only a solvent or additive and becomes a control parameter. By selecting the ionic-liquid composition and using sol–gel kinetics intentionally, the response rate and thermal sensitivity can be programmed, leading to visual time indicators that encode cumulative thermal exposure as a reproducible color trajectory.
 Current work therefore shifts toward microstructures, including disk-like micro-features that combine thermal stability with reversible, stimulus-responsive behavior in dye-based and dye-doped ionogels. In parallel, electron-beam-induced structuring of ionic liquids has been demonstrated[4], indicating that the beam can act as a practical tool to introduce spatial organization within these systems. Electron beam thus offers a route to write, localize, and tune functionality in space, enabling direct-write patterns, gradients, and multistate response maps. The next step is to explore how the electron beam can be used as a practical processing tool to structure these materials and to tune functionality locally.

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Last modified: Feb 15, 2026, 7:39:01 AM