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...
The continued existence and use of chemical warfare agents (CWAs) have necessitated the development of materials which can safely and efficiently decontaminate these toxic chemicals in an environmentally benign fashion. Among the most prevalent CWAs, nerve agents (sarin, VX) and blistering agents (sulfur mustard [HD]) are considered the most toxic...
Molecules and materials featuring unpaired electrons are fundamental elements of modern energy, device, and imaging technologies. The high sensitivity of electronic spins to their surroundings renders these compounds further attractive as environmental sensors. In order to successfully realize these applications, the electronic spins must be precisely controlled. One promising strategy...
The development of heavy metal semiconductors is a growing field of interest for their application in photovoltaics, light emission, and radiation detection. This is due to their robust ability to convert incident photons of visible wavelength and high energy into charge current while remaining stable, optimizable, and readily synthesizable. As...
The Controlled, Site-Isolated Synthesis of Polyelemental Nanostructures in Polymer Nanoreactors Pengcheng Chen Polyelemental nanoparticles are an attractive class of materials due to their potential applications, which span the fields of catalysis, plasmonics, electronics, magnetics, targeted drug delivery, and bio-imaging. However, conventional synthetic methods for such structures are limited, especially when...
In multiatomic systems, high applied pressures reduce interatomic contact distances. At pressures comparable to those inside planets, this relatively simple principle completely changes the guiding principles of chemistry and physics established at near-ambient conditions. High-pressure investigations of precisely how the laws of nature evolve in the gigapascal and megabar regime...
Bioresponsive imaging probes act as beacons to allow detection, tracking, and study of otherwise invisible actors in biological systems. Understanding how these underlying systems function in their native context is essential to identifying dysfunction and generating effective remedies. Magnetic Resonance techniques are particularly interesting for this application because of the...
While Li-ion batteries are currently the preferred energy storage technology, multivalent alternatives such as Mg should be considered. Magnesium metal has a high volumetric capacity and has been shown to cycle with no dendrite formation. However, the highly charged Mg2+ ion cannot easily diffuse into the oxide cathodes favored in...
The emerging paradigm of quantum information science (QIS) vows to transform a wide range of fields, such as computation, communication, and sensing. The fundamental unit at the core of any QIS system is a quantum bit, or qubit. Rather than be restricted to one of two classical states (0 or...
Magnetic resonance imaging is a powerful research tool for studying anatomical processes in intact large organisms, as it is capable of generating high resolution images with unlimited penetration depth and excellent soft-tissue contrast. However one of the challenges faced by those seeking to use the technique to answer biochemical questions,...