Two-dimensional materials’ “all-surface” architecture presents a new paradigm for investigations into electron confinement effects and surface phenomena. However, synthesizing, characterizing, and ultimately engineering the properties of 2D materials represents a formidable challenge. This thesis presents several cases of isolating novel 2D materials via vapor-based syntheses. Vapor-based syntheses allow for reproducible...
Lithium ion batteries (LIBs) have been the most prominent electrochemical energy storage technology over the past decades and enabled the wireless evolution of portable electronic devices. Yet the expanded use of renewable but intermittent energy sources coupled with increasing demand for electric transportation vehicles put forward requirements to electrochemical energy...
Porous metal structures exhibit numerous advantages over dense materials due to their high specific stiffness, strength, damping, energy absorption, and surface areas, making them suitable for applications ranging from actuators to medical implants. However, traditional foam manufacturing methods do not provide sufficient control of the foam micro-architectures, and the creation...
Gels are three-dimensional polymer networks capable of absorbing a large amount of solvent molecules subject to various external stimuli (pH, temperature, light, etc.). They exhibit a rich mechanical behavior and prominent nonlinearity owing to their high flexibility, stimuli-responsiveness and superabsorbency. More compelling are the intriguing morphologies and novel functionalities achieved...
The limits of miniaturization of electronic device components and the steady need for faster computation power have motivated the discovery and cultivation of low-dimensional materials. Among these, two-dimensional (2D) materials have exhibited a wide range of superlative optoelectronic, thermal and mechanical properties. The interest in 2D materials took-off with the...
There is growing interest in and demand for lightweight, age-hardenable alloys such as aluminum (Al) alloys in the transportation sector. This interest is due to the potential for reducing vehicle mass and thereby improving fuel economy. Precipitation microstructures improve the mechanical properties of materials, such as yield stress, by impeding...
Two-dimensional (2D) materials such as graphene exhibit unique, superlative electronic, optical, and mechanical properties that are dictated by the precise atomic structure within each layer. Consequently, control of this atomic-scale configuration is critical to engineering desirable characteristics. To date, however, most 2D materials have been discovered by isolating mono- or...
Increasing energy demand due to rapid growth in population and industrialization along with environmental crisis has led to the search for cheap, environmentally friendly, and nontoxic methods for generation of energy. However, most alternative energy sources such as photovoltaic, biofuels, hydraulic power, wind power, and geothermal energy, are characterized by...
Electromagnetic metamaterials composed of colloidally synthesized plasmonic metal nanoparticles offer new opportunities to probe light-matter interactions. The properties of these structures largely depend on the spatial arrangement of nanoparticles within them. Therefore, new assembly strategies that afford a high level of structural control are expected to enable a broad range...
While synthesis and transformation processes to produce monodisperse nanoparticles are empirically well-developed, the pathways for these reactions as well as the exact role of synthetic agents and binding characteristics of surface moieties remain poorly understood. This lack of understanding is primarily due to the paucity of information about nanoparticle structural...