One of the grand challenges in materials chemistry and nanochemistry is the development of functional materials through ordered, hierarchical structures using synthetic building blocks. Nature has done this through evolution of molecular components such as nucleic acids, saccharides, lipids, amino acids, and inorganic crystals. The precise spatial positioning of these...
Carbon nanomaterials, such as graphene and graphene oxide, have outstanding mechanical strength, stiffness, and toughness that surpass those of materials currently used to build structures. However, these properties are limited to the nanoscale and have not yet been attained in macroscopic composites containing carbon nanomaterials. To integrate the mechanical properties...
Total synthesis of natural products provides an avenue for investigation of complex chemical scaffolds, not only delivering access to biologically impactful molecules but also lending a deeper understanding of their inherent chemical reactivity. Expansion of reaction methodology, optimization of biological activity, and absolute structural confirmation can all be accomplished via...
Two-dimensional (2D) hybrid halide perovskites have been the response to their exciting but woefully unstable 3D counterparts. These 2D perovskites have been shown to have respectable stabilities as photovoltaic absorbers, yet they lag behind the 3D perovskites in terms of efficiency. With the need to catch up to the efficiencies...
The mammalian oocyte undergoes large fluctuations in zinc content as it matures from a prophase I arrested oocyte to a metaphase II egg and finally is fertilized to become a zygote. These changes in total zinc content are necessary for proper progression, as disruption to egg’s ability to acquire and...
Thermoelectric modules that convert heat into electrical energy are attractive for improving global energy management. This thesis reports the synthesis and characterization of two new families of lead and tin chalcogenide alloys and focuses on the impact of the grain boundaries, phase segregation, and atomic vacancies on the electronic and...
Dynamic covalent chemistry (DCC) combines the strength and directionality of covalent bonds with the reversibility of supramolecular interactions. The formation and stability of these bonds are typically regulated by parameters such as temperature, pH, concentration, catalyst loading and light. Light is an exceptionally powerful stimulus because it can be applied...
The ubiquitous role of water in biochemical, electrochemical, and geochemical systems has driven scientific interest in studying the fundamental hydrogen-bonding interactions that water molecules exhibit in the presence of different materials.Specifically, we focus on the interactions characterizing water at the interface between two bulk media, as these are essential to...
Organic chromophores show great promise for energy and optoelectronic devices, due to their synthetic tunability and low production costs. In order to achieve this potential, their fundamental photophysical processes must be better understood. It has long been documented that chromophore packing at the molecular level has dramatic effect on electronic...
Chirality and polarity describe orthogonal mechanisms of inversion symmetry breaking, which is the origin of valuable properties in crystalline materials including nonlinear optical activity, ferroelectricity, and piezoelectricity. Noncentrosymmetric (NCS) materials have numerous applications yet opportunities remain for cooperative coupling between chiral and polar basic building units to realize high-performance materials....