Our research effort focuses on understanding the creation of organic/inorganic nanostructures and probing their properties in individual nanostructure device formats: understanding how to controllably grow such nanoscale building blocks as nanowires, nanotubes and nanoparticles with precision, reproducibility and reliability, and manipulate their properties for the applications of catalysis, electronics, optoelectronics, thermoelectrics and sensors. For these purposes,
I exploit the unique abilities of (1) in situ Transmission Electron Microscopy (in situ TEM), capable of varying temperature, gas pressure, solution concentration and voltage via specialized holder systems, (2) in situ Scanning Electron Microscopy (in situ SEM) under controlled mechanical stress and (3) in situ Optical System, equipped with a high resolution optical microscope, a micro-Raman, a I-V probestation, heating and cooling stages and gas flowing systems. Detailed research areas are as follow:

Research interests

• Nucleation and growth kinetics of nanostructures in gas and liquid environments for catalysis (i.e., fuel cells, methane reforming, CO oxidation, gas sensors), optics, electronics and optoelectronics
  → Current project: Real time investigation of multi-component ex-solution for high performance catalysis (i.e., fuel cells, methane reforming, CO oxidation, environmental gas sensors)
  → Current project: Kinetics of Ag particle and Ag/Au core-shell particle growth in liquid cells for controlled surface plasmon resonance sensing
• Phase transition in metal oxides and organic small molecules for optical sensors and transistors
  → Current project: Real time investigation of metal-insulator transition in hydrogen doped VO₂ wires for ultra sensitive and fast photo-sensors
• Electro-mechanics of meta-materials for low-k dielectric applications
  → Current project: Mechanically and thermally durable electrical insulation in density graded heterogeneous nanolattices
• Phase stability of halide perovskites for optoelectronics (i.e., solar cells)
  → Current project: Quantifying degradation mechanisms of metal-halide perovskite under extreme environmental conditions