Research

We focus on the discovery of functional and multifunctional inorganic solid-state materials, ranging from intermetallics to oxides, with the applications in technology and energy conversion. We target materials with noncentrosymmetric and polar space groups which will exhibit interesting and exotic physical properties. We investigate the magnetic and transport properties of polar metallic oxides and intermetallics, polar magnetic semiconductors, polar thermoelectric materials, and multiferroic materials. We are passionate about understanding the interplay between the polar crystal structure, electronic structure, and physical properties to develop design strategies to discover functional magnetic polar materials.

Students will be trained on the preparation of crystalline inorganic solid-state materials with various methods, growth of single crystals, structural analysis, calculation of electronic structure, and characterization of physical properties of inorganic solid-state materials.

Students will also have the opportunity to learn synchrotron X-ray and neutron diffraction while use the state-of-art research facilities at national laboratories such as Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and Oak Ridge National laboratory (ORNL).