(6gm) Toward Next Generation of Colloidal 2D Nanomaterials: Liquid-Phase Characterization, Modification, and Controlled Assembly

In last few years, 2D nanomaterials have been exploited for their unique properties to prepare electronic devices, sensors, membranes, and energy storage devices. Most advances in this field are based on the fundamental understanding of the physics and properties of these materials in solid state. Meanwhile, little is known about their structure-property relationship in the liquid phase. Colloidal 2D nanomaterials produced by liquid-phase exfoliation methods are polydispersed in size and aspect ratio, surface chemistry, electronic structure, and reactivity. This polydispersity is the main challenge in understanding the interactions of nanosheets. Developing new platforms for minimizing the polydispersity while maintaining the production yield of liquid-phase exfoliation methods is critical for advancing this research field. Such platforms equip us with fundamental understanding and control over the intersheet interactions as well as the interactions with their surrounding environment. Monodispersed colloidal nanosheets with controlled surface chemistry present opportunities for developing novel chemical and biological sensing platforms, catalysts with promoted activity, and 3D self-assembled macrostructures, holding the potential to revolutionize biomedical, structural composites, and energy storage and conversion technologies.

Currently, in Prof. Michael Strano’s lab at MIT, I am investigating the corona-phase of the surfactant-stabilized nanosheets and their size distribution using single particle tracking techniques, as well as their potential applications in biomedical devices and photocatalysis.My research in Prof. Micah Green’s lab at Texas A&M University has been focused on graphene-based colloidal dispersions and their self-assembly. Combining my experimental knowledge with the particle-based computational tools such as Brownian dynamics and using techniques from statistical mechanics will allow me to precisely predict and quantify polydispersity of the nanosheets. I will use novel size analysis techniques developed during my postdoctoral studies, optical and spectroscopic methods, and controlled deformation with simultaneous measurement of microscopic stresses to study the interfacial energy and interactions of 2D nanomaterials as polydispersed colloidal systems. Using the knowledge gained through these studies, it is feasible to separate and sort the nanosheets based on their size, surface chemistry, and reactivity. Next, I will apply functionalization and surface treatments as means to tune the assembly of the sorted 2D nanomaterials into desired 2D and 3D structures for biosensing, targeted drug delivery, photocatalysis, and energy storage applications. Additionally, I will focus on process development for scalable preparation of these finely tuned nanosheets to make them available for industrial applications.

Teaching Interests:

As a new faculty, I will use my experiences as graduate teaching fellow and teaching assistant to guide the undergraduate students in gaining a fundamental understanding of the key concepts of chemical engineering. I expect all my students to apply these concepts to a wide variety of physical systems based on problem categorization. I will teach my students to tackle the smaller components of problems through defining the system in terms of proper mathematical models and then using key techniques to achieve a solution. This problem-solving algorithm enables the students to approach any engineering problem in the real-life and industrial applications. In regard to graduate education, my goal is to empower students to become independent academic researchers. I will focus my efforts on not only imparting scientific knowledge, but also teaching the methodology of scientific research and independent thinking. My ultimate goal is to produce researchers who think in a multidisciplinary fashion and can generate creative solutions for challenging and complicated situations. While my teaching experience allows me to feel comfortable with teaching any of the core courses in the chemical engineering undergraduate curriculum, my specific teaching interests include transport, numerical methods in chemical engineering, and reaction engineering. My teaching interests for elective and graduate level courses closely match my research interests, and I would like to teach or develop courses in the areas of Advanced Functional Materials, and Colloids and Interfacial Phenomena. In particular, the latter course will cover an overview of the fundamental topics in colloids including the colloidal interaction at atomic and molecular level, interfacial forces, and self-assembly of the colloidal particles.