The focus of our group is to develop the science underlying the synthesis of advanced materials for applications in the areas of energy storage, optoelectronics, thermoelectrics, catalysis and hard coatings. Our group aims to achieve progress in these technologically-important areas through a detailed atomic-level understanding of the mass transport mechanisms, chemical reaction kinetics, and material thermodynamics controlling the material synthesis. We use a wide variety of in situ (as well as ex situ) characterization tools such as scanning probe microscopy (STM/AFM), low-energy electron microscopy (LEEM), scanning/transmission electron microscopy (SEM/TEM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) to investigate the kinetics of nucleation, growth, and thermal/chemical stability of nanostructures
