Public Abstract

DE-SC0019019: Building Artificial Layered Solids from the Bottom-up: Materials by Design to Enable New Energy Technologies

Award Status: Inactive

Institution: The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX
UEI: V6AFQPN18437
PM: Henderson, Craig

Most Recent Award Date: 08/12/2022
Number of Support Periods: 5
PI: Yu, Guihua

Current Budget Period: 09/01/2022 - 08/31/2023
Current Project Period: 09/01/2018 - 08/31/2023

Public Abstract

Building Artificial Layered Solids from the Bottom-up: Materials by Design to Enable New Energy Technologies Dr. Guihua Yu, Assistant Professor Materials Science and Engineering Program Department of Mechanical Engineering Texas Materials Institute The University of Texas at Austin Austin, TX 78712 Synthetic nanostructured inorganic solids are emerging as promising building blocks for a broad range of applications from electronics, optoelectronics, to energy and environmental technologies, given that their chemical and physical properties can be controlled and optimized by tunable parameters such as size, morphology, crystal structure, chemical composition and surface/interface. As dimensionality is one of the defining parameters in nanoscience, the same chemical compound may exhibit drastically different properties depending on how the atoms are structurally arranged in dimension. The objectives of this research are to develop a suite of structurally controlled artificial two-dimensional (2D) layered solids from the bottom-up (Lego-like piece-by-piece), and to enable new synthetic tools for functional nanosheet materials beyond graphene. Combined with computational simulations to guide design, rational synthesis of inorganic 2D crystals will be integrated with their self-assembly and predictable organization of molecular assemblies to form artificial layered solids. This research will expand fundamental knowledge on how nanoscale synthesis and self-assembly can encode properties and functionality into materials in a predictable manner. The new materials by design platform of artificial layered solids with exceptional catalytic/transport properties will have direct implications for advanced energy science and technologies.

Building Artificial Layered Solids from the Bottom-up: Materials by Design to Enable New Energy Technologies

Dr. Guihua Yu, Assistant Professor

Materials Science and Engineering Program

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Texas Materials Institute

The University of Texas at Austin

Austin, TX 78712

Synthetic nanostructured inorganic solids are emerging as promising building blocks for a broad range of applications from electronics, optoelectronics, to energy and environmental technologies, given that their chemical and physical properties can be controlled and optimized by tunable parameters such as size, morphology, crystal structure, chemical composition and surface/interface. As dimensionality is one of the defining parameters in nanoscience, the same chemical compound may exhibit drastically different properties depending on how the atoms are structurally arranged in dimension. The objectives of this research are to develop a suite of structurally controlled artificial two-dimensional (2D) layered solids from the bottom-up (Lego-like piece-by-piece), and to enable new synthetic tools for functional nanosheet materials beyond graphene. Combined with computational simulations to guide design, rational synthesis of inorganic 2D crystals will be integrated with their self-assembly and predictable organization of molecular assemblies to form artificial layered solids. This research will expand fundamental knowledge on how nanoscale synthesis and self-assembly can encode properties and functionality into materials in a predictable manner. The new materials by design platform of artificial layered solids with exceptional catalytic/transport properties will have direct implications for advanced energy science and technologies.