(6gb) Building Hierarchical Materials for Energy and Catalysis

The growth of hierarchical materials from solution/vapor is an important challenge for developing new and improved materials and materials synthesis pathways for energy and catalysis. One way to address this challenge is understanding crystal growth mechanisms via directly probing the crystal growth and using the detected information to develop predictive modeling capabilities for new materials. Therefore I aim to understand crystal growth mechanisms in situ via directly measuring forces at mutually oriented particle-particle interfaces and imaging the nucleation and crystal growth using various techniques, such as in situ liquid phase scanning/transmission electron microscopy and homemade high temperature high pressure atomic force microscopy. Based on the understanding the nucleation and crystal growth mechanisms, I will design and synthesize novel hierarchical materials using in energy and catalysis.

Research Interests: Crystal growth, Material synthesis, Nanofabrication, Energy and Catalysis

Teaching Interests: I would like to teach courses related to Thermodynamics, Kinetics, Heat Transfer, Nanofabrication, and Nanoscience. I am also willing to develop new courses based on my research experiences and interests such as electron microscopy and scanning probe microscopy.