Monthly Archives: April 2018

Sharmila Shirodkar wins the 2018 Outstanding Postdoctoral Research Award

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Sharmila Shirodkar, a postdoctoral research associate in  Yakobson’s Group, is the recipients of the 2018 Outstanding Postdoctoral Research Award of Rice University’s George R. Brown School of Engineering.

Sharmila’s research focuses on the electronic and plasmonic properties of 2D materials using first-principles calculations. Her recent work involved exploring plasmonic response of recently discovered 2D sheets of boron, and determining the stability of these sheets with doping via atypical simulation technique.  She also works on the optical properties of 2D materials, and tinkers on finding new combinations of nano-catalysts for enhanced hydrogen evolution reactions.

Sharmila finished her Ph.D. from the Theoretical Sciences Unit in JNCASR, Bangalore, India in 2014. She was a postdoc at the John A. Paulson’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, at Harvard University from 2015 to 2016 before joining Prof. Yakobson’s group in the Material Science and NanoEngineering department at Rice University in 2016.

Salt boosts creation of 2D materials

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Rice scientists show how salt lowers reaction temperatures to make novel materials

A dash of salt can simplify the creation of two-dimensional materials, and thanks to Rice University scientists, the reason is becoming clear.

Boris Yakobson, a Rice professor of materials science and nanoengineering and of chemistry, was the go-to expert when a group of labs in Singapore, China, Japan and Taiwan used salt to make a “library” of 2D materials that combined transition metals and chalcogens. These compounds could lead to smaller and faster transistors, photovoltaics, sensors and catalysts, according to the researchers.

Through first-principles molecular dynamics simulations and accurate energy computations, Yakobson and his colleagues determined that salt reduces the temperature at which some elements interact in a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) furnace. That makes it easier to form atom-thick layers similar to graphene but with the potential to customize their chemical composition for specific layer-material and accordingly electrical, optical, catalytic and other useful properties.

The research team including Yakobson and Rice postdoctoral researcher Yu Xie and graduate student Jincheng Lei reported its results this week in Nature.

The clip shows a molecular dynamics simulation of a layer of salt and molybdenum oxide mixing together to form molybdenum oxychloride. The atoms are oxygen (red), sodium (yellow), chlorine (green), and molybdenum (purple).

– See more at Rice News