Nanotechnology research broadly encompasses the exploration of the unique chemical,optical, electronic, or biological properties of materials with dimensions < 1 µm. Inorganic
nanoparticles are one such class of materials, with properties that are exceptionally sensitive to
particle size and structure. This is especially evident in the field of heterogeneous chemical...
The demand for low cost, unconventional electronics requires new materials with unique characteristics that the traditionally used silicon-based technologies cannot provide. Metal oxide semiconductors, such has amorphous indium gallium zinc oxide (a-IGZO), have made impressive strides as alternatives to amorphous silicon for electronics applications. However, to achieve the full potential...
This dissertation explores ways to utilize physical parameters at the nanoscale interface to control the properties of mixed-dimensional heterojunctions (MDHJs). MDHJs combine the desirable properties of different classes of low-dimensional nanomaterials (materials that are quantum confined in at least one dimension). While MDHJs have achieved superlative performance for a variety...
Two-dimensional (2D) hybrid halide perovskites have been the response to their exciting but woefully unstable 3D counterparts. These 2D perovskites have been shown to have respectable stabilities as photovoltaic absorbers, yet they lag behind the 3D perovskites in terms of efficiency. With the need to catch up to the efficiencies...
A framework is developed that models point defect diffusion and interaction with pre-existing microstructures during irradiation, including defect-defect interactions and defect sinks. This framework uses a modified diffusion potential that includes not only defect concentration, but also intrinsic stresses from the pre-existing microstructure. Various microstructures are studied in {Fe} by...
The highly flexible nature of 2D materials has led to them becoming fundamental building blocks for achieving novel device physics and potential breakthroughs in practical technologies. 2D layers can be interfaced in a wide array of methods with themselves, other 2D layered materials, or materials of entirely different type or...
Materials that exist as well-defined individual entities at the nanoscale typically have properties that sets them apart from their bulk form. Consequently, there has been much time and effort invested in developing new well-defined nanoscale entities, but few attempts to assemble them into bulk materials. On the other hand, there...
Nanomaterials are increasingly incorporated in modern day life, from the biogenic viruses that cause pandemics and the mineral crystallites embedded alongside collagen in our bones, to the anthropogenic nanomaterials that are small but powerful components of sunscreen and paint, swimming pool algaecides and wound dressings, cancer treatments, bicycle frames, and...
Metallic conductivity and broken inversion symmetry were long thought to be contraindicated properties, under the assumption that long-range Coulombic interactions (screened by free charge carriers) were necessary for coordinated polar displacements. Within the past decade, the discovery of polar metals has prompted a rethinking of the relationship between metallicity and...
This thesis describes the synthesis and photophysical characterization of low-dimensionalmaterials—including thin-film semiconductors, colloidal quantum dots, and molecules—with the
broader motivation of integrating them into mixed-dimensional heterostructures with novel
responses to external stimuli. Due to their high surface area to volume ratio and incomplete
dielectric screening, mixed-dimensional heterostructures have high sensitivity...