About Us

Haixiang Han

Prior Degree: Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry, SUNY Albany
Joined Group: December, 2018
Research: Metal Sulfide Nanoparticles and Clusters
Hometown: Zibo, China
Favorite Characterization Technique: Electron Diffraction

Yuan Frank Yao

Prior Degree: B.Sc in Material Science (2016), University of Manchester
Joined group: Fall 2016
Research: I am interested in understanding nanocluster mesophase formation, chirality transition. Meanwhile, I work on ternary metal sulfide nanoparticles synthesis, characterization, and their energy applications.
Keywords: Chiral transition in inorganic nanocluster, mechanistic study in nanocluster cation exchange, Optoelectronic property of ternary metal sulfide nanoparticle, Energy application of nanoparticles.
Hometown: Hangzhou, China
Favorite characterization technique: Circular Dichroism

Talisi Meyer

Project: Development of a scalable synthesis method for monodisperse ternary metal sulfide nanoparticles for supercapacitor electrodes.
Prior Degree: B.S. in Biochemistry & Physics, Minor in Mathematics from Simmons University
Joined group: Oct. 2021
Research key words: Electrophoretic deposition (EPD), ternary metal nanoparticle.
Hometown: New Milford, NJ
Favorite technique: AFM

Jonathan Rowell

Project: I am currently working on the synthesis of cobalt manganese spinel oxide nanoparticles and plan to investigate their use in energy and catalysis applications. I am also working on project synthesizing nickel-cobalt shells on Fe3O4 core nanoparticles.
Prior Degree: BS Biochemistry, Minor in Biomolecular Engineering
Joined Group: May 2021
Research Key Words: Spinel oxide nanoparticles
Hometown: Plant City, Florida
Favorite Solvent: Ethanol

Minsoo Kang

Project: I am studying on the mechanaims of polaron hopping mechanism and charge transport in the nickel iron oxide of MBE thin films; I am also working on synthesis and characterization of nanomaterials and MBE thin films.
Prior Degree: B.S./M.S. from Georgia Institute of Technology
Joined group: Oct. 2021
Research key words: Small-polaron transport, Spinels MBE, XES.
Hometown: Anyang-si, South Korea
Favorite technique: XPS

Reilly Lynch

Project: Synthesis and characterization of CdS and CdSe and their thin films
Prior Degree: B.S. in Chemistry (2021), Western Washington University
Joined group: Dec. 2021
Research key words: thin films
Hometown: Olympia, WA
Favorite technique: XRD

Thomas Ugras

Project: In the lab I'm synthesizing and characterizing CdS and CdSe magic-sized clusters and their self-assembled thin films. When I'm in the office I'm simulating absorption spectroscopy of chiral nanocrystal assemblies.
Prior Degree: B.S.E. Engineering Physics, Case Western Reserve University
Joined group: Dec. 2021
Research key words: magic-sized clusters, self-assembly, thin films, chiral nanocrystals and assemblies
Hometown: Bucks County, PA
Favorite technique: Circular Dichroism Spectroscopy

Kevin Jiang

Project: Large-scale synthesis and assembly of ternary metal sulfide nanoparticles for use in supercapacitor electrodes.
Prior Degree: B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering at UC Davis
Joined group: Oct. 2021
Research key words: Synthesis, electrophoretic deposition (EPD), supercapacitors
Hometown: Wuxi, China
Favorite technique: TEM

Yafu Jia

Project: Synthesis of ternary transition metal spinels nanoparticles for multiple energy applications.
Prior Degree: B.S. in MSE(2020), Rensselaer Polytechnic institute
Joined group: Oct. 2021
Research key words: Spinel nanoparticles
Hometown: Chongqing, China
Favorite technique: FTIR

Ching Chun Peng (Vicky)

Project: NiCo2S4 Nanoparticles as Supercapacitor Applications
Prior Degree: B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering at National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan
Joined group: Fall 2022
Research key words: Electrochemical characterization, Nickel–Cobalt Sulfide
Hometown: Hsinchu, Taiwan
Favorite scientist: Albert Hofmann

River Carson

Project: Untangling the structure/property relations of CdS magic size clusters with strong chiroptical properties related to a fibrous mesophase.
Prior Degree: B.S. in Materials Science & Engineering with Additional Major in Mathematics at the University of Wisconsin - Madison
Joined group: Oct 2022
Research key words: magic-sized clusters, self-assembly, thin films, chiral nanocrystals and assemblies, chiroptical properties
Hometown: Washington DC
Favorite way to calculate pi: Buffon's needle

Haoyang Li

Project: Understanding CdS and CdSe nanocluster mesophase formation and chiral transition.
Prior Degree: B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering , Monash University
Joined group: Fall 2022
Research key words: Magic-sized clusters, Self-assembly, Thin films, Chiral nanocrystals and assemblies, Chiroptical properties
Hometown: Changsha, China
Favorite Scientist: Sin-Itiro Tomonaga

Monona Khare

Project: (1) Using electrophoretic deposition (EPD) to create a hierarchical pore size distribution on electrodes for applications in supercapacitors and coin cells (2) Developing a scalable method for nickel cobalt sulfide nanoparticle synthesis, and conducting EPD using these nanoparticles to create electrodes for applications in supercapacitors.
Major: Chemical Engineering (Class of 2023)
Joined group: June 2021
Research key words: Electrodeposition, Nanoparticle synthesis
Hometown: Lubbock, TX
Favorite Technique: LSCM