‘I am a UK Innovator’: College of Arts and Sciences’ John Anthony

Innovation thrives when collaboration sparks new ways of thinking. Research Communications partnered with UK Innovate to spotlight faculty innovators with life-changing ideas at the University of Kentucky in a video series, “I am a UK Innovator.” UK Innovate works collaboratively with innovators to strategically assess, protect and license early-stage technologies and co-create new technology startups.

In this Q&A, John Anthony, Ph.D., the C.W. Hammond Professor of Chemistry in the College of Arts and Sciences and associate director of the UK Center for Applied Energy Research, describes his work developing new molecules for semiconductor applications and how this research helps train the next generation of interdisciplinary scientists. His award-winning contributions have positioned him among UK’s most highly cited researchers. Since 2016, Anthony has secured nearly $6 million in funding from the U.S. National Science Foundation, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

UKNow: What inspired you to pick this specific area of research?

Anthony: For the first few years of my career, my research program was focused on developing new ways of making certain types of molecules. At some point, I decided it was time to focus on what molecules we should make, rather than what molecules we can make. I began to collaborate with physicists and engineers to develop molecules for a wide array of semiconductor applications, from transistors to sensors.

UKNow: What is the most challenging aspect of your research?

Anthony: It is hard to pick out a “most challenging” aspect. When we decide to develop materials for a new application, we have to hit the right performance metrics. But the material also has to be stable over long-term operation. It must be processable by whatever approach the engineering teams have selected, such as screen printing or spin-coating. From an economic sense, if the material is to be widely useful it needs to be inexpensive to prepare and purify. It is tough to hit all those metrics.

UKNow: What have been the most fulfilling moments for you regarding your discoveries?

Anthony: Usefulness comes first. Seeing other research teams build entire programs around materials developed by my group is incredibly rewarding, especially when those materials are simple and easy to prepare.

UKNow: How has your research impacted the way you train students?

Anthony: Our work is highly collaborative and interdisciplinary. Students in my group must understand the application (for example, thin-film transistors), along with having a deep background in chemistry, to be able to make new designer molecules. Nearly every student in my team is paired with a scientist in a collaborative research group, sometimes halfway around the globe, and they must work together to achieve working technologies. It means that my students need to understand that they are not isolated scientists locked away in a lab — they are part of a research culture involving people from physics, engineering and business, to develop viable new technology.

UKNow: What drew you to and/or inspires you about the University of Kentucky?

Anthony: We have the ability at UK to build a team of amazing, dedicated scientists and engineers who enjoy working together and who are all at the forefront of their respective disciplines. Every year we have a joint workshop where we gather to listen and comment on student presentations and strike up new projects and collaborative efforts. We’ve really got a phenomenal group here.