Systems and methods for employing optical probes to characterize material properties

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for screening diverse arrays of materials are provided. In particular, the present invention provides techniques for interrogating organic materials, inorganic materials, or polymers on predefined regions of a substrate, using optical probe molecules to measure properties of these materials. This invention involves the use of environment-sensitive probes, such as dye probes, to enable parallel, rapid and efficient characterization of important material properties, including glass-transition temperatures, polarity, hydrogen bonding and other intermolecular interactions. These methods can be applied to crystalline or amorphous materials, polymeric or small-molecule materials, pure materials or mixtures, and to materials in bulk, particles, thin films, dispersions, emulsions, and solutions.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.