Research Focus

 

There is a tremendous opportunity space for nanostructured materials to play a key role in next generation energy technologies. Our research efforts focus on the fundamental study of optoelectronic properties of semiconductor nanocrystals; this work is inspired by the potential application of these materials in solar energy conversion and energy storage devices.

The semiconductor nanocrystals used in our work provide a diverse set of building blocks whose electronic and optical properties differ from their bulk counterparts due to the spatial wavefunction confinement. This quantum confinement effect allows us to engineer the materials properties through simple adjustments in nanocrystal size, shape, composition, and surface chemistry. In addition to their immense potential for technological applications, these materials also provide a material system to experimentally test fundamental quantum mechanical concepts.

Current Projects

 

To harness this immense technological potential, our work seeks solutions to the following challenges.

  • How can we efficiently extract photogenerated charges from a quantum confined nanocrystal into an external circuit?

    Answers to this challenge requires control and understanding of physical and chemical properties of the nanostructured interface. We need to resolve a stringent combination of energetic, kinetic, and structural constrains covering multiple time- and length-scales.

    To read more about our recent progress on excitonic solar cells check out the recent article in Nano Letters.

  • How do we integrate the nanostructures into robust and low-cost device structures that combine the required control over interface properties and nanostructure ordering across multiple length scales?

    The prospect of combined control over individual nanocrystal (NC) and ensemble (i.e., nanocrystal superlattice, NCSL) properties presents a fertile area of fundamental research with many exciting opportunities to create novel metamaterials with coherent electrical and optical properties relevant to a number of nanotechnology applications. To read more about our recent work on processing/structure relationships of highly ordered nanocrystal assemblies check out the article in ACS Nano.

  • What are the fundamental structure/property relationships of nanoscale anode and cathode materials in context of their application in high-performance lithium ion batteries?

    The central objectives of this project are: (1) to better understand ion and charge transport processes at nanoscale interfaces and (2) to exploit advances in synthesis and characterization of functional nanomaterials as a platform for a new generation of batteries capable of meeting the performance needs of renewable energy systems.