Opportunities from Emerging 1D-to-2D Materials: Size-Dependent Phase-Transition and Multifunctional Solar Energy Devices

Developments of various low-dimensional materials have offered unprecedented scientific and technological opportunities. The highly interdisciplinary nature of researches on these materials has enabled the close-up inspection of multi-faceted problems rising at the interfaces of seemingly unrelated areas. In this talk, I will discuss about multidisciplinary opportunities that emerging one-dimensional (1D) to two-dimensional (2D) materials can offer. The first part of my talk will focus on studying the intrinsic size-dependency of nanoscale phase-transformation phenomena. Specifically, I will talk about two model systems of phase-change memory devices and metallic glass nanorods, and discuss about their electrically-driven amorphization and thermally-driven crystallizations, respectively. By applying state-of-the art electron microscopy characterizations, I unveiled unique size-dependency of phase-transformation and its origins at unprecedentedly small length scales which conventional approaches can hardly address to. The second part of my talk will focus on the technological aspects of emerging low-dimensional materials. I will talk about a low-cost manufacturing of carbonnanotube (CNT) thin films and their applications to multi-functional photovoltaics. I translated the nanoscale opto-electrical and mechanical properties of CNT films to large-scale hybrid CNT/Si solar cells with record high efficiency and multi-functionalities. Lastly, I will discuss about my future research plan to study emerging 2D heterostructured materials. Specifically, I will talk about the rational integration of 2D heterostructures with which I will pursue to explore the fundamentals of carrier transport vs. 2D atomic structure relationships as well as develop transformative 2D technologies.

Biography

Yeonwoong (Eric) Jung earned a B.S degree from Seoul National University, Korea, in 2001, a M.S degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2003, a Ph.D. degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 2009, all in Materials Science and Engineering. Presently, he is a post-doctoral research associate at Yale University where he has been affiliated with Mechanical Engineering and Electrical Engineering departments. His research program is highly interdisciplinary and mainly centers in low-dimensional electronic materials for fundamental sciences and emerging technologies. He has authored or co-authored over 30 research articles, including Nature Nanotechnology, Nano Letters, Advanced Materials, and Science. He is the recipient of Materials Research Society (MRS) award, NBIC research excellence award, and S. J. Stein Prize for best Ph.D. dissertation, and his works have been cited over 1000 times.