Skills

I have a wide range of skills for precisely designing inorganic materials and analyzing them. By applying these materials in diverse fields, I have also gained foundational skills in system engineering and simulation.

Nanomaterial Synthesis

I synthesize and modify nanostructures through a variety of synthetic methods.

Nanomaterial synthesis methods: colloidal synthesis, solvothermal synthesis and precipitation (wet chemistry), electrodeposition (electrochemistry), and atomic layer deposition (vapor-phase synthesis)

Colloidal synthesis of metal nanoparticles
Solvothermal synthesis of metal–organic frameworks
Nanocrystal facet engineering
Template-assisted functionalization of nanostructures
Electrodeposition of thin-film nanostructure ensembles

Microscopy-Based Characterization

Using real-time microscopy, I track structural changes and uncover the underlying mechanisms.

Microscopy-based characterization: dark-field optical microscopy setup with SEM and dark-field scattering images of growing particles at stages C1–C5; in situ environmental TEM with a MEMS heater used to monitor the structural evolution of Ni@C nanoparticles

Real-time plasmon imaging by optical microscopy
SEM-based structural analysis of nanoparticles
TEM-based structural and crystallographic analysis of nanoparticles
Real-time structural analysis by in situ ETEM

Spectroscopic Analysis

I measure and interpret the ensemble-averaged properties of materials using spectroscopic techniques.

Spectroscopic and diffraction analyses: XRD patterns of Cu-based deposits; Cu 2p, S 2p and O 1s XPS spectra; Ni K-edge, O K-edge and Ce M-edge XANES and Ni EXAFS of CeO₂/Ni catalysts

XRD
XPS
XAS
Raman
IR (DRIFTS)

Catalysis Research

I carry out catalytic studies end to end, from reactor design and optimization to obtaining experimental results.

Catalysis research: photocatalytic CO₂ reduction to CH₄ on ZnO–Cu₂O; electrocatalysis on Cu₂O-coated carbon paper; plasmon-assisted electrocatalysis on branched gold nanostructures; flow reactor setup for thermocatalytic ammonia decomposition

Photocatalytic CO₂ reduction
Electrocatalytic CO₂ reduction and glucose oxidation
Photoelectrochemical nitrate reduction
Thermocatalytic ammonia decomposition under dry and wet conditions
Home-built reactor design (spectroelectrochemical cell, flow cell, high-pressure gas-phase reactor)

Numerical Optical Simulation

I perform basic programming-based simulations of optical properties.

Optical analysis and simulation: measured and simulated scattering spectra and peak wavelengths during electrochemical growth (stages C1–C5); extinction spectra and single-particle scattering of Au nanostructures with TEM images; FDTD-simulated extinction cross sections and near-field maps of Au nanoparticle assemblies at different polarization angles

MATLAB-based extraction and analysis of optical properties
Mie scattering simulations using Lumerical FDTD