I am interested in the scalable synthesis of ultrathin two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials for solar and battery applications. Lately, 2D transition metal chalcogenides have generated much interest due to the emergent electronic properties that arise in single-monolayer materials. However, typical production methods for these materials require expensive vacuum systems, have low yield, and involve aggressive etching or exfoliation procedures. Very recently, scalable, solution-based colloidal syntheses were developed for a few select 2D materials; however, these techniques are intrinsically limited in terms of accessible growth temperature. High-temperature organic supercritical fluids are a promising, yet entirely unexplored, route toward the continuous, scalable, fluid-based synthesis of 2D materials that require higher temperatures for precursor decomposition and nanosheet growth. With the CEI Fellowship, I plan to develop the supercritical fluid-based production of 2D transition metal chalcogenides, thus enabling the large-scale fabrication of 2D nanomaterials for the next generation of high-quality energy conversion and storage devices.
Advisor: Vincent Holmberg – Chemical Engineering