Controlled synthesis of nanomaterials is still a challenge to scientific community and continuous efforts are in full swing in this area. In our uptown lab, our group is working on research projects to develop methods for large scale synthesis of nanomaterials with optimized performance for various applications.
Our research lab utilizes techniques like air spray, screen printing, inkjet printing, UV curing, and photonic curing to achieve controlled synthesis of nanomaterials. Our goal is to synthesize nanomaterials with optimized performance in a roll to roll fashion. Novel methods like photonic curing combined with air spray or inkjet printing can enable economical synthesis of nanomaterials in industrial scale. Equipped with a xenon flash lamp which produces light with a broad spectrum (220-1500 nm), photonic curing method allows a large parameter space for the customization of pulse shape, energy, and power. This instantaneous process allows synthesis of nanomaterials, polymerization of monomers, curing of thin films, and drying of metallic inks even in temperature sensitive substrates. The rapid quenching (in milliseconds), which occurs during this process, allows us to trap metastable states of nanomaterials, which is not possible by conventional methods like thermal annealing.
Currently, our group is working on synthesis of nanomaterials for energy storage applications (lithium-ion batteries, supercapacitors and dielectric capacitors) using this novel technique. Some of our recent publications can be found here.
For the facilities available in uptown lab click here.