Electromagnetic metamaterials composed of colloidally synthesized plasmonic metal nanoparticles offer new opportunities to probe light-matter interactions. The properties of these structures largely depend on the spatial arrangement of nanoparticles within them. Therefore, new assembly strategies that afford a high level of structural control are expected to enable a broad range...
While synthesis and transformation processes to produce monodisperse nanoparticles are empirically well-developed, the pathways for these reactions as well as the exact role of synthetic agents and binding characteristics of surface moieties remain poorly understood. This lack of understanding is primarily due to the paucity of information about nanoparticle structural...
Technology has advanced rapidly, especially in the twenty-first century, influencing our day-to-day life on unprecedented levels. Most such advances in technology are closely linked to, and often driven by, the discovery and design of new materials. It follows that the discovery of new materials can not only improve existing technologies...
Thin film oxidation is investigated using two modeling techniques in the interest of better understanding the roles of space charge and non-equilibrium effects.
An electrochemical phase-field model of an oxide-metal interface is formulated in one dimension and studied at equilibrium and during growth. An analogous sharp interface model is developed...
Moving away from fossil fuels requires environmentally friendly and economically viable alternative energy sources. A wide adoption of new technologies for energy production and storage depends on better performing materials. Computational methods, such as electronic structure calculations and machine learning, hold the promise to work in conjunction with traditional experimentation...
There is growing interest in and demand for lightweight, age-hardenable alloys such as aluminum (Al) alloys in the transportation sector. This interest is due to the potential for reducing vehicle mass and thereby improving fuel economy. Precipitation microstructures improve the mechanical properties of materials, such as yield stress, by impeding...
Two-dimensional (2D) materials such as graphene exhibit unique, superlative electronic, optical, and mechanical properties that are dictated by the precise atomic structure within each layer. Consequently, control of this atomic-scale configuration is critical to engineering desirable characteristics. To date, however, most 2D materials have been discovered by isolating mono- or...
Supported metal catalysts find many important uses in areas including chemical production, petroleum refining and emission control. The catalytic behavior of a supported metal catalyst is influenced by size and type of reaction sites on metal nanoparticles. For many structure insensitive reactions catalyzed by the supported metal catalysts, smaller metal...
Over the last 20 years a new field of amorphous transparent conducting oxides (a-TCOs) has developed. The amorphous nature of these films makes them well suited for large area applications. In addition, a-TCOs can be made at low temperatures and through solution processing methods. These assets provide promising opportunities to...
Atom probe tomography (APT) was used to analyze doping and alloying in low-dimensional electronic materials including thin film heterostructures, van der Waals materials, and colloidal quantum dots (QDs).
Firstly, APT was used to reveal structure-property relationship for low-dimensional thin film semiconductors used in electronic and opto-electronic devices. APT was shown...