Research

Specific Thrusts in the group are:

Synthesis: development of a synthetic tool box that will enable computationally guided preparation of atomic/nanoscale control of composition and morphology Of particular interest is developing structures of earth abundant materials that can enable renewable energy technologies.

Structure/Property Relationships: developing a fundamental understanding of the relationships of the nanoscale/surface structures and the resulting chemical/physical properties (ie. catalysis, carbon capture). Then, interfacing the developed knowledge with the synthesis effort to intelligently design and prepare next generation materials.

Re-Mining: applying the base knowledge associated with building up complex nanostructured materials to re-mine the elements for electronics (E-waste) and spent catalysts.  This thrust is coupled with efforts in 3-d printing of materials whereby the solutions of re-mined atoms/molecules are used as ‘inks’ for printing new materials.