(7dp) Understanding and Controlling Interfaces of Nanomaterials Via Electrochemistry

My research is at the interface of chemistry, materials engineering, and nanotechnology. So far, I have focused on building new synthetic tools for applications in energy conversion and generation platforms (photovoltaic/white light source) along with investigating fundamental light-matter (plasmon/exciton) interactions and catalytic processes at the nanoscale.

During my doctoral studies, I focused on the electrochemical synthesis of multi-segmented nanorods. Prior to my work, electrochemical synthesis was limited to one-dimensional modifications. I co-invented a technique, termed coaxial lithography (COAL), which allows for the synthesis of coaxial nanowires in a parallel fashion with sub-10 nanometer control in both axial and radial dimensions (US Patent Publication Number: 20160013340). My work has dramatically expanded current synthetic capabilities with respect to materials generality and the ability to tailor two-dimensional growth in the formation of core-shell structures. I believe that COAL will be extremely useful for prototyping device architectures that demand components and features not readily made by any existing technique, and as such should become a valuable research tool in the nanophotonics, energy harvesting, and nanotechnology fields for studying fundamental light-matter interactions.

In my postdoctoral research, I have integrated electrodeposition methodology with Si nanowires to evolve novel functional structures for selective catalysis and on-demand drug delivery applications. The work takes advantage of the scalability and low cost of electrochemical methods while working in the nanoscale regime with high fidelity and materials compatibility at room temperature. Thus, relatively sophisticated nanowire structures may be produced simply. The compatibility with organic molecules hold promise for the integration of this approach in the well-established silicon-based semiconductor industry as a potential route for fabrication of an array of single nanowire devices in parallel. I expect that the versatility and materials generality of this innovative approach will find diverse applications in chemistry, physics, and medicine. In particular, I am interested in exploring immediate applications of this work in the fields of energy conversion and storage, sensing, and bioelectronics. Additionally, I am currently working on the development of nanostructured crystalline catalysts for sustainable solar to chemical energy conversion by utilizing simple electrochemical techniques. Another exciting project that I am working on lies at the bio-nano interface for which I am modifying the tips of nanowire probes for the on-demand release of drugs and molecules by external stimuli.

In my independent career, my research goal is to contribute significantly to our fundamental understanding of how nanomaterials can be designed to form new pathways for crucial chemical reactions, and is potentially transformative for our worldwide energy infrastructures. I will focus on the design, characterization, and applications of nanoscale materials for solar energy conversion, energy storage, and biomedical applications. I will engineer nanostructured surfaces along multiple directions, utilizing the combination of radial and longitudinal degrees of compositional freedom provided by the electrochemical approaches that I developed so far. One of the key problems that I will tackle is controlling the efficiency and product selectivity of chemical processes by using light as a driving force. Understanding the difference between hot electron transfer versus local heating effects in a plasmon-mediated photocatalytic process is fundamentally important. The development of nanostructures showing such properties is vital as they can be used as foundational components in next-generation photocatalytic and photovoltaic systems.

Selected publications (6 out of 27)

1- T. Ozel, B. A. Zhang, R. Gao, R. W. Day, C. M. Lieber, and D. G. Nocera. Electrochemical deposition of conformal and functional layers on high aspect ratio silicon micro/nanowires, Nano Letters, DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.7b01950 (2017).

2- T. Ozel, G. R. Bourret, C. A. Mirkin. Coaxial lithography, Nature Nanotechnology 10, 319 (2015).

3- T. Ozel, M. J. Ashley, G. R. Bourret, M. B. Ross, G. C. Schatz, C. A. Mirkin. Solution-dispersible metal nanorings with deliberately controllable compositions and architectural parameters for tunable plasmonic response, Nano Letters 15 (8), 5273 (2015).

4- T. Ozel, G. R. Bourret, A. L. Schmucker, K. A. Brown, C. A. Mirkin, Hybrid semiconductor core-shell nanowires with tunable plasmonic nanoantennas, Advanced Materials 25, 4515 (2013).

5- T. Ozel, P. L. Hernandez-Martinez, E. Mutlugun, O. Akin, S. Nizamoglu, I. O. Ozel, Q. Zhang, Q. Xiong, H. V. Demir. Observation of selective plasmon-exciton coupling in nonradiative energy transfer: Selective plexcitons, Nano Letters 13 (7), 3065 (2013).

6- T. Ozel, S. Nizamoglu, M. A. Sefunc, O. Samarskaya, I. O. Ozel, E. Mutlugun, V. Lesnyak, N. Gaponik, A. Eychmuller, S. V. Gaponenko, H. V. Demir. Anisotropic emission from multilayered plasmon resonator nanocomposites of isotropic semiconductor quantum dots, ACS Nano 5 (2), 1328 (2011).

Teaching Interests:

Based on my previous experience, I am interested in teaching both graduate and undergraduate level courses in both lecture and laboratory setting that fall under the following broad topics and areas in Chemical Engineering, Materials Science, and Mechanical Engineering:

- Materials Engineering

- Physical Chemistry

- Solar Energy Conversion

- Electron Microscopy

- Electrochemistry

- Quantum Physics of Materials

- Semiconductor Synthesis, Nanofabrication, and Device Processing

- Principles of Optoelectronic Devices (Photovoltaics, Sensors, and Light Emitters)

- Electricity and Magnetism

- Mechanics of Materials

- Fundamentals and Applications of 0D, 1D, and 2D Materials

- Nanoscience and Nanotechnology

- Nanophotonics (Plasmonics and Quantum Confined Materials)