(15o) Tailoring Inorganic Materials with High Surface Area for Electronic Applications

My research interests lie at the intersection of nanomaterial chemistry and miniaturized electronics with an emphasis on chemical functionalization of inorganic materials. This area is critical for new advances in energy storage, transistors et al.

In my previous work, I focused on developing novel high surface inorganic materials, such as hexagonal tungsten trioxides (h-WO₃) and graphene oxide. Similar to zeolites and metal organic frameworks (MOF), h-WO₃ processes high intrinsic surface area from intracrystalline tunnels, not from the morphology. The 3.67 Å diameter tunnels were characterized by low-pressure CO₂ adsorption isotherms with nonlocal density functional theory fitting for the first time, and also by transmission electron microscopy and thermal gravimetric analysis. These open and rigid tunnels adsorb H⁺ and Li⁺, but not Na⁺ in aqueous electrolytes, which demonstrates size selectivity. Since h-WO₃ is more conductive than zeolites, and also more stable than MOF, h-WO₃ can be utilized as energy storage material in supercapacitor. Meanwhile, h-WO₃ shows its potential applications in selective ion transfer and selective gas adsorption. Afterwards, I showed the improved performance of the composite for supercapacitor.

In my current research, I am focusing on tailoring black phospherene for transistor. Black phospherene is a new 2D material comprised of phosphorus in a chair-conformation puckered sheet. Furthermore, the band gap can be controlled with size: 2.0 eV for single layer to 0.3 eV for bulk material. As such, black phosphorene can potentially hold more promise than graphene, as it possesses the same form factor as graphene but can be used in digital transistors owing to its band gap. Unfortunately, due to its high chemical reactivity, it rapidly degrades in air (due to oxygen). To address those final issues with black phosphorene, I am developing chemical methods for exfoliating black phospherene to yield sheets with defined thicknesses. From there, I will demonstrate the role of surfactant to stabilize the black phosphorene against oxidation, and demonstrate comparable electronic properties.

Teaching Interests: Inorganic chemistry, Materials, Electronics