Nanoscale Functional Imaging of Materials for Energy Harvesting and Storage

Program Description
My research group is engaged in fundamental and applied research in materials forenergy harvesting and storage, and nanophotonics. The performance of most photovoltaicdevices is still limited by their mesoscale behavior. To resolve how the electrical and opticalresponses vary at relevant length scales, we acquire nanoscale resolved “photographs” of theperformance of inhomogeneous materials for photovoltaics, by means of novelnanospectroscopic methods. Our measurements provide a tomography of charge carriergeneration, recombination and collection within materials ranging from well-established thinfilms to emerging perovskites. In the realm of energy storage, the further development ofrechargeable, safe batteries requires the understanding of why and how the material is changingupon charging/discharging. We elucidate the dynamics of lithiation/delithiation in all-solid-statebatteries through in situ electron microscopy methods. Finally, concerning optical materials, weovercome the constraint imposed by the pre-defined dielectric functions of noble metals byalloying, where we have recently developed a library of their optical properties. Further, weimplemented a novel platform for the design and fabrication of these alloyed thin films andnanostructures with on demand optical response for applications ranging from metamaterials to splays and catalysis