Crystalline solids form the basis of devices found in modern energy conversion, energy storage, and energy-intensive information technologies. The urgency to combat climate change and stem runaway anthropogenic carbon emissions has brought these technologies back into focus, placing a premium on energy efficiency and new renewable energy technologies.
Both improving existing technologies and developing new materials rely on a deep understanding of the structure of active materials, for instance in intercalation electrodes and bulk semiconductors. The operational stability and transport mechanisms may differ in these disparate applications; however, both are linked to the chemical bonding and periodic structure of the material. I aim to develop methods to characterize structural disorder and dynamics in bulk crystals and functional materials, with an emphasis on connecting disorder to transport properties across various length scales.
In complementary efforts, I will establish a comprehensive strategy to design and synthesize functionalized layered materials and heterostructures. The design features of interest here support components of existing technologies, for instance room-temperature ionic conductivity in solid electrolytes, and emerging devices, such as magnetic ions and coordination complexes as qubits in quantum information technologies. Heterostructures allow for unprecedented control over the electronic structure, driving forces for ion transport, surface and adsorption chemistry, and novel physical phenomena. My work seeks to identify scalable synthetic methods for the assembly and functionalization of layered materials and heterostructures for functional devices.