My overall research interests lie in the development of new nanostructured materials and devices of technological importance and scientific interest by employing liquid- and/or gas-phase materials synthetic techniques. The ability to synthesize and engineer materials at the nanometer length scale has become a powerful driving force in the global scientific and technological community. Successful manipulation of various nanostructured materials suggests two issues: (1) an increasingly important role for chemistry to play in the rational design of functional materials and devices, and (2) the ability to exert chemical control to levels of precision familiar to advanced engineering technology. As a well-trained inorganic materials chemist and chemical engineer, I plan to pursue research projects in nanoscale materials science and engineering. These projects will ultimately lead to the rational design of novel materials and their related devices that possess useful and advanced properties, partly due to their nanostructured features.

PhD Graduate Research: Synthesis and assembly of transition metal oxide nanomaterials and investigation of their novel physical properties (Advisor: Professor Stanislaus S. Wong, Department of Chemistry, State University of New York at Stony Brook). Except working as research assistant and teaching assistant at SUNY Stony Brook, I also had the opportunity to work at Brookhaven National Laboratory due to my advisor's joint appointments. The research experiences have resulted in more than fifteen (nine first author) publications in various prestigious journals, including J. Am. Chem. Soc., Adv. Mater., J. Mater. Chem., and J. Phys. Chem. B., in addition to one issued patent and three patent applications. Specifically, the projects were as follows:

i) The full potential of nanoscience and nanotechnologies will only be realized when nanomaterials could be (1) synthesized in large quantilities with reproducible size, shape, structure, crystallinity, and composition, and (2) prepared and assembled using simplistic, low-cost, and environmentally-friendly methodologies. Hence, I explored different synthetic approaches to synthesize various advanced transition metal oxide and fluoride nanomaterials. The synthetic methodologies include molten salt syntheses, template-directed approach, sol-gel process, and hydrothermal method. The oxide materials are ferroelectric ABO₃-type oxides, magnetic Bi₂Fe₄O₉ and α-Fe₂O₃, catalytic ABO₄-type oxides and TiO₂ as well as layered titanate oxides. Furthermore, a template-directed approach had been extended to fabricate alkaline earth metal fluoride and perovskite fluoride nanowires. These nanomaterials had been extensively characterized by spectroscopic, microscopic, diffraction and electrochemical techniques.

ii) Assembly of nanoscale components is a key step towards building functional devices, which are important for applications including nanoscale electronics and molecular sensing. In my graduate study, layered titanate and TiO₂ one-dimensional nanostructures and ABO₄-type nanorods were assembled into sea urchin-like aggregates and arrays, respectively, without sophisticated instruments.

iii) It would be conceptually easier to control desired target materials at the nanometer scale if one were able to start with nanoscale precursors. One exciting strategy is associated with the use of localized solid-state chemical transformations via the insertion, exchange, or deletion of individual atoms. As a model system to demonstrate this idea, I investigated the size- and shape-dependent morphological transformation of hydrogen titanate nanostructures to their anatase TiO₂ counterparts by a hydrothermal method. The photocatalytic properties of as-prepared titania nanostructures had also been studied.

To extend my expertise in synthesis, characterization, and assembly of nanomaterials to functional nanostructure-based devices, the knowledge and training in device fabrication I am currently pursuing during my postdoctoral research are crucial. At the same time, I am strengthening my engineering background.

Postdoctoral Research: Fabrication of functional nano-based devices by utilizing as-synthesized metal oxide nanostructured materials (Mentor: Professor Jane P. Chang, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California at Los Angeles). The following projects are mainly funded by NSF and FENA (Center on Functional Engineered and Nano Architectonics):

i) Fundamental and practical advances in ceramics, electronic materials, catalysts, optical and magnetic materials have enriched, and been enriched by, inorganic solid-state chemistry. For the advanced electronic, optoelectronic, and chemical sensing applications, metal oxide nanostructured materials (e.g.: rare-earth (RE) doped Y₂O₃ and RE₂Zr₂O₇) are prepared by liquid-phase and/or gas-phase synthetic routes.

ii) The connections between the synthesis of new materials, the structure of the materials, and the properties of the materials have always been emphasized in the field of materials science and engineering. Therefore, the micro-structure, morphology, composition, physical properties and formation process of the as-synthesized metal oxide nanostructures are investigated by various spectroscopic and microscopic techniques. Some of these aspects have been fulfilled through collaborations with scientists at UCLA, University of Texas at Austin, and Sandia National Laboratories. In addition, synchrotron techniques (EXAFS, XRD and UPS) have been employed at Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory.

iii) To validate the correspondingly improved device functionality due to the reduced dimension of these materials, simple and novel nanostructure-based device structures (e.g.: nano-floating gate memory, optical switch, and photodetector) are fabricated upon the as-prepared oxide nanomaterials. These devices are fabricated by using the equipments at the Nanoelectronics Research Facility of UCLA.

Research Plans: To be an assistant professor, I plan to continue to perform research on the synthesis and functionalization of nanomaterials and the fabrication of relevant nano-based devices. The major objectives are to develop simple and novel synthetic methodologies for nanosized multifunctional complex oxide materials (e.g., multiferroic, mixed ionic-electronic conducting and smart electroceramic perovskites), to modify the surface of these nanomaterials and prepare nanocomposites for processability enhancement, and to fabricate novel memory devices, fuel cell electrodes and optical amplifiers by using the as-prepared and functionalized nanomaterials. To work these projects out successfully and efficiently, critical and independent thinking, hard working, and excellent collaboration are three main components of my professional belief.

Teaching: I not only worked as a teaching assistant. Very recently, I also have had the opportunity to both prepare lecture notes and teach classes at UCLA for the course of Surface and Interface Engineering. Through the multidiscipline research and academic training, I am able to teach some of the chemical engineering core courses, on both undergraduate and graduate levels, such as Transport Phenomenon, Thermodynamics, Separation Processes, etc. I truly enjoy teaching and also would like to create an introductory class that focuses on nanoscience and nanotechnology to cover synthetic techniques for nanomaterials, their characterization tools, nano-based devices, challenges, and possible solutions.