Graphene oxide (GO) is a heavily oxidized version of graphene, which is often made by oxidative chemical exfoliation from graphite powders. The reaction decorates the graphene sheets with oxygen-containing functional groups including hydroxyl and epoxide groups on the basal plane, as well as carboxyl groups on the edge, rendering the...
The past decade has seen the rapid progress of deep learning, which becomes a game-changing technique in different data-intensive domains, with the availability of large scale data, cost-effective computing hardware and more advanced learning theory and algorithms. Despite of the rapid progress of deep learning methods in daily-life applications, such...
The successful isolation of graphene marked the advent of two-dimensional (2D) materials. Their atomically thin structures enable unprecedented electrical, optical, and mechanical properties, which have triggered significant research interests in the past decade. For instance, they are promising candidates for the fabrication of flexible electronics, biological sensors, battery electrodes, and...
Thermoelectric devices utilize semiconducting n-type and p-type thermoelectric materials to convert heat into electricity. Despite their promise for deep space power generation or waste heat recovery, most high-performing thermoelectric materials reported in literature are absent in practical applications - partially due to inconsistent synthesis and poor mechanical performance. This work...
As the interest in rational synthesis for solid-state materials accelerates, there is an urgent need to understand the design principles concealed within these reactions. In situ material synthesis provides such an avenue to not only uncover these assembling rules, but also for finding new materials even in seemingly familiar phase...
Part I: Evaluating the relationship between Crosslink Kinetics and Thermodynamics with the hydrogel mechanics. The past two decades have witnessed a surge of applications built upon dynamic covalent chemistry (DCC), both attributed to the scope of developed reactions as well as their modularity.1-3 These reactions have comparable strengths to their...
The ability to control the crystalline ordering and morphology of polymeric nanomaterials is a grand challenge in the field of materials science, which could enable the development of functional materials able to solve long-standing problems in renewable energy and medicine. In this work, we explore a combination of supramolecular chemistry...
Scalable processing of well-defined interfaces is key not only for wider application of two-dimensional (2D) materials in technology but also for improved fundamental understanding. Atomic layer deposition has useful characteristics, especially self-limited growth at low temperatures, that make it well suited for the production of uniform interfaces. Related processes, such...
Nanotechnology research broadly encompasses the exploration of the unique chemical,optical, electronic, or biological properties of materials with dimensions < 1 µm. Inorganic
nanoparticles are one such class of materials, with properties that are exceptionally sensitive to
particle size and structure. This is especially evident in the field of heterogeneous chemical...
This thesis focuses on identifying structure-property-performance relationships in supported nanoparticle catalysts, where an active catalyst material is supported on a high surface area substrate. Identifying these relationships in supported nanoparticle catalysts can be quite challenging, as the complex structure of these catalysts results in numerous potential sources for changes to...