Nick Adams
Department: Chemistry Advisor: Daniel Gamelin I am investigating the electrochemical, magnetic, and optical properties of 2D layered materials, including chromium thiophosphate (CrPS4). CrPS4 was originally investigated as a potential battery material but was subsequently found to possess interesting magnetic, optical, and semiconducting properties. Using light as an exploratory tool, I will deepen the field's fundamental understanding of this material, which is still limited. This research will open the door to a new family of tunable layered electronic materials with many uses such as improving battery technology. The magneto-optical properties of CrPS4 also make it a good candidate for atomically thin magnetic semiconductors in spintronic devices, which...
Khoa Ngo
Department of Chemistry Advisor: David Ginger My project is studying the kinetics of oxidation in organic mixed ionic electronic conductors (OMIECs), a class of polymers with the unique ability to conduct ions and electrons simultaneously. This dual conductivity makes OMIECs desirable for a range of applications including neuromorphic computing, bioelectronics, sensor technology, and battery storage. Understanding the kinetics and the underlying conditions that control them in these materials will be vital for rationally designing future materials....
Julisa Juarez
Department: Chemistry Advisor: David Ginger I am currently a third-year PhD student in the Department of Chemistry working in David Ginger's Lab. My research focuses on the synthesis and characterization of perovskite solar cell technology with the goal of creating a more efficient and robust solar energy material. My main research purpose is to aid in the upcoming commercialization of these novel perovskite devices!...
Austin Wang
Department: Chemistry Advisor: Douglas Reed I'm a rising second year in the Chemistry department in the lab of Doug Reed doing research on 2D transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs). My research aims to impart porosity in these materials by linking individual sheets using organic molecules. Due to the large variety of TMDCs and their differing electronic properties, a facile and general method for creating porous TMDC structures could help in creating novel materials with unique electronic and magnetic properties....
Celine Liew
Department: Chemistry Advisor: Daniel Gamelin My research focuses on synthesizing and characterizing highly anisotropic Mn2+-doped II-VI nanoplatelet semiconductors that show prospects to serve as chromophores in Luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs). LSCs are optical devices that leverage solar downconversion to overcome thermalization losses that lead to inefficiencies in solar photovoltaics. These materials absorb sunlight over a broad spectral region and emit lower-energy photons that are energetically well-matched to the optimal performance of the photovoltaic, increasing its overall efficiency. The transparent nature of these devices makes them well-suited as solar windows for integration into buildings. However, current LSCs lack emission directionality due to the scattering of emitted light which...
Fubin (Sophie) Song
Department: Chemistry Advisor: Dianne Xiao I am a third-year chemistry Ph.D. student in the lab of Professor Dianne Xiao. My research focuses on developing redox mediators for oxidative electrocatalysis. Redox mediators enable electrochemical transformations to occur at milder potentials, allow broader substrate scopes and increase selectivities of reactions compared to traditional electrochemical methods. Participation in CEI will be a tremendous opportunity for me to grow as a researcher because through which I can work with talented scientists across a variety of disciplines and share my knowledge back with the scientific community. I'm also excited to get involved in more outreach events through CEI....
Maxwell Taub
Department: Chemistry Faculty Advisor: Xiaosong Li I am a Ph.D. student in the Department of Chemistry, interested in theoretical and computational chemistry. Working under Xiaosong Li, my research focuses on using the principles of quantum mechanics and special relativity to study molecular systems. Heavy elements generate electrostatic potentials strong enough to accelerate nearby electrons to speeds approaching that of light. Without a relativistic treatment, the Schrödinger equation breaks down in this limit. Proper relativistic treatments are necessary to predict certain phenomena like phosphorescence, an essential process for many modern OLED and solar cell technologies. The goal of my research is to use relativistic calculations to elucidate the charge transfer dynamics upon...
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...
Lucy Miller
Department: Chemistry Faculty Advisor: Matt Golder I am a second year Ph.D. student in the Department of Chemistry, where I am studying polymer chemistry in Professor Matt Golder’s laboratory. My research is focused on the development of more delicately controlled cyclic polymerization processes with the goal of synthesizing cyclic block polymers. Ultimately, these polymers will have applications as polyelectrolytes in lithium-ion batteries and should be more stable and processable than their linear counterparts. Outside of work, I spend a lot of time in the mountains hiking and backpacking, as well as dancing and reading....
Emily Miura-Stempel
Department: Chemistry Faculty Advisor: Brandi Cossairt My research investigates the use of doped zinc oxide nanomaterials as hosts for shallow donor qubits for more sustainable devices in quantum computing. In particular, I am looking at the defect engineering in these zinc oxide nanoparticles and how we can mitigate defects while producing colloidally stable and highly emissive zinc oxide nanorods....
Jay Lee
Department: Chemistry PI: Douglas Reed I am a third-year graduate student in the Reed lab. My research is centered around making porous materials which are normally electronically insulating into highly conductive materials for applications in energy technology. Porous material of my choice is a class of molecules called metal-organic cages. These cage molecules are often solution processible and are amenable to traditional solution chemistry which are often difficult for similar heterogeneous materials. Using cage molecules as a platform we are investigating both non-covalent and covalent functionalization of cage molecules to enable electronic conductivity to these otherwise insulating materials....
Haiely Akins
Department: Chemistry Faculty Advisor: Alexandra Velian Research Statement: Designing better, more energy-efficient catalysts is crucial for reducing worldwide energy consumption. Towards this goal, I am looking to create complex, atomically precise catalytic sites on the surface of material supports. This combines the stability and longevity of traditional material catalysts with the tunability and mechanistic insight associated with small molecule catalysts. My chosen support – black phosphorus – is ideal for this goal as it has an abundance of reactive electron lone pairs on its surface primed to form bonds. Currently, I am investigating the range of complexity accessible on the surface of black phosphorus via a...