Research
Unifying the Structural and Electronic Dynamics of Optoelectronic Materials
The goal of the Brumberg Group is to control and understand dynamic structural processes (such as phase transitions, self-assembly, and crystallization) in bulk and nanocrystalline inorganic materials, with the aim of enabling control over optoelectronic and other physico-chemical properties.
We often think of materials as static structures and seek to understand structure/property relationships only by looking at the structures at one point in time. However, the reality is that a material’s structure is ever changing, from when we first synthesize it in the laboratory to when we incorporate it into a device (like a solar cell or battery) that then continually operates. In order to meet the increasing energy demands of our society in a sustainable way, we need to understand how structures change over time and how those structural changes impact optical and electronic properties.
My group’s approach to these fundamental problems will leverage the use of advanced characterization tools, such as ultrafast optical spectroscopy and diffraction, that allow us to gain access to important electronic and structural information. Students in our group will learn both synthesis and spectroscopy, both so that we can have precise control over the preparation of our own materials and so that students are aware of the many synthetic subtleties that can affect optoelectronic properties. This is especially important for nanocrystals (with organic ligands interfaced against an inorganic core) and other hybrid materials, where many processing steps that were previously believed to be relatively innocuous have recently been discovered to play critical roles on photophysical processes and the resulting device efficiencies.
Example projects:
In situ monitoring of semiconductor nanocrystal growth (structure and property evolution) with microfluidic synthesis
Dynamics of halide segregation phase transitions in metal halide perovskite semiconductors