Adelaide Levenson
There is currently no effective way to controllably access polymeric macrocycles for soft mesoporous materials for use in energy storage. An advantage of using block bottlebrush polymers (BBPs) for such applications is their ability to phase separate and self-assemble. Rather than lamellar sheets formed via the self-assembly of linear block BBPs, exploiting the self-assembly of cyclic block BBPs could result in the formation of mesopores and channels. Additionally, the use of cyclic polymers for these materials increases processability due to a lower viscosity and higher thermal stability compared to their linear counterparts. My research will focus on the production of cyclic bottlebrush polymers via...
Eric Lester
My research aims to study electrical transport in two-dimensional (2D) materials and 2D heterostructures. Particularly, I am interested in the 2D topological insulator WTe2 and its complex interactions with graphene. I have also been developing a two-axis rotator for use on a dilution refrigerator to study magnetic anisotropy of low-dimensional materials below 1 Kelvin. My research on highly anisotropic materials like WTe2 is primarily concerned with fundamental physical mechanisms, and it is my hope that by gaining a better understanding of these materials, new applications can be discovered as well. These include highly efficient, atomically-thin thermoelectric devices for use in energy and heat efficient microelectronic...
Rose Lee
With the role of lithium-based batteries escalating in an increasingly electrified economy, it is critical to fully understand the factors that affect battery performance and limit battery longevity. However, the complexities of battery chemistries often lead to fundamental half-cell studies that do not fully capture the complicated interactions within the full-cell batteries powering society. This project aims to develop a non-destructive method of monitoring the performance of individual electrodes in the full-cell through experimentally-validated battery modelling. This full-cell model connects two physics-based half-cell models that disaggregates its respective electrode response into the individual solid-state reactions occurring in the electrode, which are each described by...
Phuong Le
Electrically conductive metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) show promise for diverse electrochemical applications including electrochemical sensing, energy storage, conversion, and separations. However, most MOFs are synthesized as poorly processable powders, hindering device integration. The Xiao lab has recently developed conjugated metal-organic macrocycles that combine the porosity and rapid charge transport found in conductive MOFs with the processability of organic polymers. I have expanded upon this work by developing new macrocycles with the use of nitrogen-based bridging ligands, rather than the original oxygen-based system. Ultimately, my research will establish semiconducting macrocycles as a rich and diverse family of materials. Advisor: Dianne Xiao - Chemistry...
Nisarg Joshi
The ultimate goal of my research is to develop new simulation tools to study electrolyte degradation in condensed phases at interfaces. Unfortunately, current methods are either too expensive (ab initio MD) or inaccurate (semi empirical). Therefore, I have been working on developing machine learning potentials (MLP) for molecules which offer greater accuracy while also being able to simulate larger, more relevant systems. Furthermore, I am also working on improving the large training data bottleneck faced in developing MLP by using enhanced sampling methods to speed the generation of training data and improve the reconstruction accuracy of the potentials while also limiting the total amount...
Rose Johnson
The study of perovskite materials for clean energy harvesting and light emission is an emergent and highly promising field that has realized groundbreaking progress in efficiency over the past several years. For energy-efficient displays, cesium-based perovskite quantum dots are a well-suited and desirable material due to their high photoluminescence quantum yield, color tunability, and facile solution processibility. I plan to develop a direct photolithography process to pattern and create a balanced, full-color, and ultra-bright micro-LED display. Incorporation of polymer ligands will address stability and enable direct patterning of the perovskite active layer, thus greatly simplifying the micro-LED fabrication process and increasing production throughput. This project...
Yuefan Ji
Lithium-ion batteries are key to electrifying transportation. However, the nature of the current lithium ion battery technology is unsafe. Researchers are working on the development and improvement of battery techniques to manufacture high performance and safe batteries. Importantly, lithium ion batteries are a closed and complicated system, which makes it impossible to open and diagnose the commercialized battery without damaging it. Fortunately, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) is available for us to diagnose the lithium ion battery non-invasively. EIS is powerful, but has not been fully understood. Thus, my works focus on the theories and applications of EIS in providing more insights on battery diagnostics and...
Mercie Hodges
Polymers are commonly used in the energy field as matrices for photovoltaics, but they also have the potential to act as electrodes. My work in Matt Golder’s lab is upcycling polyolefins via post-polymerization modification, a method of chemically transforming polymer chains to give them new properties with added value. I am using a selenium-catalyzed amination reaction developed by the Michael lab to add sulfonamides to the polymer backbone, modifying their thermal and physical properties. Recently, it has been found that conjugated sulfonamides can be used to form lithium-ion positive electrodes that are air-stable and demonstrate reversible electrochemistry, allowing for charge storage. I am attempting...
Seancarlos Gonzalez
Renewable energy technologies have gained use as a means of combating the causes of global climate change. Nevertheless, even with 100% renewable energy, chemicals manufacturing will still produce carbon dioxide emissions. Current gas separation techniques are both energy and cost intensive, meaning that we need affordable technologies that can scrub CO2 from exhaust streams. My research focuses on developing more effective gas separation membranes that can be used to separate CO2 from a mixture of other gases. Specifically, my work uses reactive vapors to grow metal organic frameworks (MOFs) in situ within polymer membranes. The incorporation of these MOFs has already been shown to...
Anthony Gironda
Once-through nuclear fuel cycles leave thousands of metric tons of spent nuclear waste to be disposed of -approximately 80,000 tons in the US alone. The enduring proposal for disposal are geological repositories, deep facilities that store waste in crystalline rock or clay where they can safely decay without escaping into the biosphere. To ensure this, engineered barrier systems encapsulate the waste container, forming an additional boundary between waste and the biosphere. The time scale for disposal is ~1M years, with the first 100,000 years being the most critical. My work uses x-ray spectroscopy to characterize different concretes proposed for use in barrier systems to...
Kristina Gill
With global temperatures rising, technologies that can improve energy efficiency of heating and cooling are more important than ever before. The energy use of buildings and transportation vehicles due to lighting, cooling and heating corresponds to about 40% of the world’s annual energy consumption. Windows are the leading source of energy loss for buildings and vehicles. One way to reduce this energy loss is to use smart windows with thermochromic coatings which can spontaneously modulate the solar energy transmission in response to the ambient temperature. Vanadium dioxide (VO2) is a promising candidate for these coatings due to a stable, rapid, reversible metal-to-insulator transition across a...