Research Areas
The long-term research goals of the So Lab are 2-fold: (i) to study the effects of synthetic changes of molecules on overall performance of devices and (ii) to study their optical, photophysical, electrochemical, and optoelectronic behaviors. We will investigate the effects of growth conditions on the resulting surface morphology of surface-mounted self-assembled materials. Ultimately, these studies will transition into in-depth studies of their physico-chemical behavior. The resulting work will add insight to the criteria needed to rationally design functional materials for energy conversion, storage, and sensing.
Metal-Organic Frameworks
Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) self-assemble as infinite crystalline lattices with inorganic vertices and molecular-scale organic connectors. These coordination materials are endowed with synthetic and chemical tunability, high crystallinity, and remarkable chemical and thermal stability. These properties make them attractive candidates for understanding fundamental physico-chemical and photophysical phenomenon, which are critical for developing energy conversion schemes. The simplicity of their synthesis allows students to gain valuable experience in traditional one-pot solvothermal preparations. In addition, students will learn automated layer-by-layer assembly, solvothermal growth, fluorescence spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV-visible spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry (CV), and chronoamperometry. See "Mentored Works" here.
Perovskites
Common structures of perovskites, derived from the ABX3 crystal structure of absorber materials, include CH3NH3PbX3 and CH3NH3SnI3, where X is a halogen ion such as I−, Br−, Cl−. They exhibit an optical bandgap range of 1.6-2.3 eV, depending on halide content. These properties make perovskites promising solar cell materials. Furthermore, the facile solution processability offer a unique opportunity to give chemistry students hands-on experience in mainstream photovoltaics. Students will learn about spincoating, dipcoating, UV-visible spectroscopy, SEM, XRD, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and solar simulation (SS) measurements. See related work here.
Conductive Polymers
A sensor is another type of electronic device which converts activity of a specific ion dissolved in a solution into an electric potential. They provide information about the chemical composition of liquid or gaseous phases with great selectivity and sensitivity. Doped polypyrrole films, for instance, can be used as highly selective membranes in ion-selective electrodes (ISE) for rapid determination of ionic species. Students will learn electrochemical oxidative polymerization, fabrication of ISEs, SEM, EIS, CV, and real-time testing of ISEs in agricultural areas in Chico. See related work here.
The long-term research goals of the So Lab are 2-fold: (i) to study the effects of synthetic changes of molecules on overall performance of devices and (ii) to study their optical, photophysical, electrochemical, and optoelectronic behaviors. We will investigate the effects of growth conditions on the resulting surface morphology of surface-mounted self-assembled materials. Ultimately, these studies will transition into in-depth studies of their physico-chemical behavior. The resulting work will add insight to the criteria needed to rationally design functional materials for energy conversion, storage, and sensing.
Metal-Organic Frameworks
Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) self-assemble as infinite crystalline lattices with inorganic vertices and molecular-scale organic connectors. These coordination materials are endowed with synthetic and chemical tunability, high crystallinity, and remarkable chemical and thermal stability. These properties make them attractive candidates for understanding fundamental physico-chemical and photophysical phenomenon, which are critical for developing energy conversion schemes. The simplicity of their synthesis allows students to gain valuable experience in traditional one-pot solvothermal preparations. In addition, students will learn automated layer-by-layer assembly, solvothermal growth, fluorescence spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV-visible spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry (CV), and chronoamperometry. See "Mentored Works" here.
Perovskites
Common structures of perovskites, derived from the ABX3 crystal structure of absorber materials, include CH3NH3PbX3 and CH3NH3SnI3, where X is a halogen ion such as I−, Br−, Cl−. They exhibit an optical bandgap range of 1.6-2.3 eV, depending on halide content. These properties make perovskites promising solar cell materials. Furthermore, the facile solution processability offer a unique opportunity to give chemistry students hands-on experience in mainstream photovoltaics. Students will learn about spincoating, dipcoating, UV-visible spectroscopy, SEM, XRD, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and solar simulation (SS) measurements. See related work here.
Conductive Polymers
A sensor is another type of electronic device which converts activity of a specific ion dissolved in a solution into an electric potential. They provide information about the chemical composition of liquid or gaseous phases with great selectivity and sensitivity. Doped polypyrrole films, for instance, can be used as highly selective membranes in ion-selective electrodes (ISE) for rapid determination of ionic species. Students will learn electrochemical oxidative polymerization, fabrication of ISEs, SEM, EIS, CV, and real-time testing of ISEs in agricultural areas in Chico. See related work here.
