Soren Sandeno

Department: Chemistry

Advisor: Prof Brandi Cossairt

Research Description: I am a fourth-year in the Cossairt lab working on synthesizing colloidal nanomaterials for use in solid-state lighting and photovoltaic detection. I focus on indium phosphide (InP) and indium arsenide (InAs) quantum dots which provide a heavy metal free platform for generating highly efficient optoelectronic materials that can emit and detect across the visible and near-infrared regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. These materials have metastable molecular intermediates that form during the synthesis that we have been able to isolate and characterize. The metastability of these intermediates may allow for neoteric pathways towards obtaining complex yet highly desirable materials such as InAsP and InGaAs.