Prof. Lynden Archer

Lynden Archer joined the Cornell faculty in 2000. He was appointed director of the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering in 2010. Since 2008 he has served as co-director of the KAUST-Cornell Center for Energy and Sustainability.

Shyamal Das

Shyamal completed his PhD from Indian institute of Science, Bangalore. His research interests are:
1. Synthesis of nanostructured materials for lithium-ion battery.
2. Investigation of oxygen transport properties in lithium-air battery.
3. Aluminium-ion battery

Research Poster

Yu Ho Wen (Ric)

Ric completed his PhD from National Chung Cheng University, Taiwan. His current research involves rheology and structure of tethered hybrid materials and their applications to lubricants.

Zichao Yang

Zichao Yang completed his PhD from Cornell University. His research interests include
design of nanocomposite materials as electrodes for lithium-ion and lithium-sulfur batteries.

Research Poster

Jennifer Schaefer

Jennifer is a current Ph.D. candidate in the field of Chemical Engineering. She is originally from Deposit, New York, and has B.S. degrees in Chemical Engineering and Chemistry and a M.Eng. in Chemical Engineering from Widener University.

Advanced electrolytes with wider electrochemical stability windows and improved mechanical integrity are required for the batteries of tomorrow. Jennifer's research focuses on design, synthesis, characterization, and evaluation of electrolytes based on a nanoparticle-organic hybrid platform. Inorganic nanoparticles are densely functionalized with an organic corona, such as an oligomer or ionic liquid. The functionalization allows for the creation of electrolytes with high inorganic content that are homogeneous on the nanoscale, and provides a mechanism for tailorability of diverse attributes such as mechanical properties and ion transference.

Research Poster

Rajesh Mallavajula

Rajesh received his undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology Bombay. He currently works on the rheology of cube shaped particles in suspensions.

Research Poster

Sung A Kim

Sung A Kim is from Seoul, South Korea and has B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from Korea University. She joined the group as a graduate student in Chemical Engineering at Cornell to pursue her Ph.D. degree. Sung A is currently interested in relaxation of tethered polymers.

cis-Polyisoprene is synthesized by anionic polymerization and then tethered to spherical silica nanoparticles. Responses from Broadband Dielectric Spectrometer show that relaxations of PI are slower when simultaneously confined and tethered. We are studying the effects of molecular weight and grafting density on dynamics of the twice-confined PI chains.

Research Poster

Samanvaya Srivastava

Samanvaya hails from Kanpur, India. He completed his undergraduate from Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur. His research interests involves fundamental understanding of tethered nanoparticle suspensions.

His webpage can be found here

Research Poster

Ying Ying Lu

The ionic liquid-tethered hybrid nanoparticles displayed many good physical and electrochemical properties including good conductivity, thermal stability, large lithium transference numbers, high modulus, large electrochemical stability window. They can be potentially used for ultra-high energy density batteries that employ metallic lithium as the anode. The current research project includes lithium dendrite suppression/elimination and high energy lithium/sulfur battery based on IL-tether silica nanoparticles.

Research Poster

Thomas Wallin

I am a current Ph.D. candidate in the field of Materials Science and Engineering. Originally from Philadelphia, Pa, I obtained B.S. degrees in Physics and Chemistry from the College of William and Mary in Virginia. Outside of the lab I enjoy participating and watching sports. I also volunteer at the local fire department. I am coadvised by Dr. Giannelis in Material Science and Engineering.

My research project is utilizing ionic liquids to create a system with tunable optical and viscoelastic properties. For this end, I am using gold nanorods and gold capped iron oxide spheres as the basis for composite ionic liquids. The gold surfaces on these materials offers interesting plasmonic behavior which is affected by the interparticle orientation and distance. Thus, the grafting density of the attached ionic liquid can effect both the optical and the rheological behavior of these systems.

Shaomao Xu

Shaomao received his B.S. degree in Chemical Process and Engineering from China University of Petroleum (East China). He is currently working on carbon dioxide capture.

Research poster

Mukul Tikekar

Lithium-ion batteries are gaining interest due to their high energy storage capacities. However, practical applications of these batteries is limited by the formation of finger-like structures, called dendrites, at the cathode. These dendrites grow over repeated charging and discharging cycles of the battery and eventually short the battery, leading to an explosion. The aim of my research is to fundamentally investigate the formation and growth of these dendrites, and propose strategies based on the use of porous media to curb their formation and growth and increase the lifespan of the battery.

Sampson Lau

My name is Sampson, I did my undergraduate degree at
Cooper Union, also in chemical engineering. When I'm not busy
"chemical engineering" I could usually be found doing some combination
of breakdancing, photography, and video editing.

I've always had an interest in alternative energy, but what drew me to
the group was the research in batteries, which I believe is the
limiting technology in adopting renewable energy nowadays. In my
research, I am looking for highly efficient cathode materials for
metal-air batteries by manipulating the pore structure.

My name is Kevin Korf, a Master's student in Material Science and Engineering working for Dr. Lynden Archer in Chemical Engineering. I spend my free time playing guitar, piano, any sort of sport, and am an avid gamer. I enjoy nothing more than a delicious steak and glass of red wine for dinner while watching a Suns game on TV. I miss warm weather.

My research is on piperidine based ionic liquid-nanoparticle hybrid electrolytes for lithium batteries. It is an organic-inorganic, viscoelastic material that potentially exhibits both good conductivity as well as strong solid state properties. This allows the material to be an electrically useful electrolyte solution while simultaneously preventing dendrite growth. Dendrites are lithium deposits that grow from anode to cathode and ultimately lead to a battery short circuit. Prevention of this phenomenon is crucial to advancing the safety and performance of modern day lithium batteries

Dawei Liu

Recently studying in Cornell University, Master in Material Science and Engineering
Graduated from Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, Bachelor of Science in Chemistry
I love roller blading, tennis and swimming, and I love playing double bass, so you can probably guess how I spend most of my time. BTW, I love my lab too.
I'm recently working on the biodegradable Shape Memory Polymer (SMP) project. SMP is a kind of hybrid material synthesized with silica nano particles and polymer chains, which gives it the shape changing properties due to external stimuli, i.e. temperature change. SMP stent has the potential usage in the field of cardio- and neuro-surgery, as a safe and efficient way to unblock a blood clot in an artery.

Daniel Shae

Daniel is from Westchester, New York, and did his undergraduate work here at Cornell in the Materials Science and Engineering program. He enjoys television and gaming, and spends his free time pretending to be a musician when he is not asleep. The last time he did anything remotely resembling exercise was sometime in the 1990's. He soon plans to submit an NSF grant proposal for funds to convince everyone in the world to set their clocks backwards five hours, resulting in no one waking before noon. He hopes one day to revolutionize the technology industry not unlike Al Gore did when he invented the series of tubes that is the internet.

His research involves studying the morphological and rheological behavior of poly(ethylene glycol) tethered silica nanoparticle-homopolymer suspensions. Depending on the processing, the system can exhibit a wide range of properties on the macroscale, ranging from robust mechanical behavior, liquid-like behavior, and everything in between. His studies involve elucidating the effect of various parameters on the morphology of these nanoparticle suspensions in the hopes of developing a general model that accurately describes these complex systems for the future development of advanced materials.

Kerianne Dobosz

Kerianne Dobosz completed her B.S. in Chemical Engineering at Cornell while additionally earning a Certificate of Language Studies in German. She is highly involved in the Society of Women Engineers and served as one of the Outreach Co-Directors for two years and as one of the co-presidents her senior year. She enjoys the outdoor activities and currently serves as a Graduate Resident Fellow on Cornell's West Campus.

She is currently working with nanoscale ionic composites in which cations are introduced to hairy nanoparticles - spherical silica with tethered polymer ligands - suspended in a like-polymer. These systems uniquely express solid like behavior even at low particle loading with possible applications in high performance lubricants. Her research goals are to better understand not only the macroscale rheology of the composites but understand the steric, Van der Waals, and electrostatic forces dictating the interactions between the nanoparticles

Lynn Lin

My name is Lynn, and I am a M. Eng student in Chemical Engineering Department. I have a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from Stony Brook University. I am a New Yorker and a loyal NY Giants fan. So I watch football on Sundays whenever I can. I used to watch the Knicks game until MSG failed to sign Jeremy Lin last year! During my free time, I like to jog and swim. I also LOVE food.

I spent a few years in the biotechnology industry making gold nanoparticles. That is why I have a strong interest in nanotechnology. My other interest is in alternative energy systems, which leads me to Professor Archer's group. My research involves synthesis of nanoparticles embedded in carbon composites, and uses them as electrodes for lithium-ion and lithium-sulfur batteries. The goal of using these nanocomposites is to improve the cycling performance and resolve the pulverization issue with lithium batteries.

Zhengyuan Tu

My name is Zhengyuan Tu. I got my B.S degree in Department of Polymer Science & Engineering, Zhejiang University, China.  I am currently a graduate student in the field of Materials Science & Engineering in Cornell University. My advisor is Professor Archer.  I’m a piano and guitar player and also a fan of classical music. Comics and sports are my hobbies as well.
I am currently working on the project of tethered-nanoparticle/PVDF system used as solid state electrolyte in lithium battery. The solid state electrolyte shows unique advantages compared with traditional liquid electrolyte.  I am studying the distribution of nanoparticles in PVDF matrix, the conductivity of the system and its potential application in lithium battery.

Yu Kambe

Yu is a senior in the Department of Material Science and Engineering. He work is focussed on percolation studies in lithium ion battery application. He is also the president of Cornell Material Society.