Opto/electronic studies and applications of nano-engineered 2-dimensional materials

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A wide variety of nanostructures can be chemically synthesized with great control over size, shape and chemical composition. A long term goal of the applicant's research program has been to use nanostructures as building-blocks to fashion materials that exhibit exotic quantum "correlated" electronic behavior; ie. electrons move through confined spaces (atomic d-orbitals) which cause electrons to avoid each other. Such motion lies at the heart of a variety of widely studied quantum phenomena, such as high temperature superconductivity for example. In the last funding cycle, the applicant's group demonstrated that this is indeed possible by demonstrating for the first time a strongly correlated phenomena called a Kondo effect using disordered films of gold nanoparticles and organic molecular linkers. The group also developed a new method for fabricating, for the first time, so-called 2-d cross-linked nanoparticle superlattices: highly ordered, dense films of gold nanoparticles + molecular linker that are macroscopic in area and one nanoparticle thick. One currently proposed project is to study the electrical and optical properties of these new materials, including those that incorporate organometallic molecular cross-linkers with d-orbitals for charges to traverse. A second proposed project is use electrochemistry to change the density of available d-orbitals. In the last funding cycle, the applicant's group also developed, for the first time, a solution-based method for inexpensively fabricating large quantities of monolayers of MoS2 that photoluminesce more strongly than ever before. A third project of the current proposal is to use these new nanostructures as building-blocks for next generation devices such as solar cells and photodetectors. Nanoengineering materials that exhibit strongly correlated electronic motion has a potential to improve our understanding of a range of intensely studied exotic quantum electronic phenomena. This would be a dramatic scientific outcome indeed. It also leads to technical achievements. In the last funding cycle, know-how developed led to improved commercially available conductivity meters for testing water. In the next funding cycle, the applicant's group will explore the materials developed for improved sensors for detecting specific molecules (such as biomolecules using surface plasmon resonance) and fingerprinting molecules (using Raman spectroscopy). Another important outcome is that this research has and will continue to provide excellent, interdisciplinary training. Student (including undergrad) achievements include publishing papers, attending conferences to present their work, developing a teaching lab, awards, launching a product and quickly finding jobs applying their training.