This project focuses on the discovery of design principles for safe, fast-charging, and long-lasting Li-ion battery materials. In coordination with the Natural Sciences Education Outreach Center, we will develop low-cost microscopes with experiential learning activities tailored to different age groups to promote microscopy education in the State of Colorado.
Two new PhD Students! Welcome Justin and Dani!
We welcome Justin Toole and Dani Lustig to our team! Justin will advance our understanding of 2D materials and Dani will advance our understanding of energy flow between nanocrystals and molecules.
The lab earns a 2020 DOE Early Career Award!
The lab’s photoelectrochemistry work on 2D materials will be supported for the next five years by DOE’s Early Career Research Program. See Lauren Brigandi’s article here.
Updated Group Meeting Schedule – Summer 2020
Zach Earns a Summer Fellowship!
Congrats to 4th year PhD student Zach Nilsson for earning a 2020 Chemical and Molecular Sciences PRSE summer research fellowship from Colorado State University’s OVPR.
Travis passes his MS defense!
Travis Varra successfully defended his MS thesis. Travis advanced two projects in the group: (1) a homemade smart phone microscope for microscopy education, and (2) chemical vapor deposition of monolayer MoS2. Congrats Travis!
Congrats to Colby, Li, and Zach
Congrats to 4th year PhD students Colby and Zach on their papers being accepted to ChemElectroChem and ACS Energy Letters. Colby’s work focuses on electrochemical energy storage and Zach gave his perspective on single molecule imaging techniques in the field of photoelectrochemistry. Postdoc Li Wang’s work focuses on the optical and photoelectrochemical properties of monolayer MoS2 in interdigitated array electrodes (ACS Appl Mater Interfaces).
Microscopy activity published in J Chem Ed
Undergraduate students Travis (now MS student!), Amy, and Benton developed a cool microscopy activity (now online here). Students build a TIRF microscope and use it to image single nanoparticles. The activity helps students observe the optical diffraction limit, which was the subject of the 2014 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Li’s paper accepted in Nano Letters!
Li’s paper revealed charge carrier recombination and transport pathways as a function of excitation energy and stacking orientation. Great work Li! Thanks to Prof. Hua Chen in Physics for photocurrent simulations.
Paper accepted in Analytical Chemistry
Colby developed an optically-detected electrochemical imaging technique to study Li-ion insertion processes in single nanoparticles. Optically detected cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry of single nanoparticles is quite different than nanoparticle clusters and the bulk.