Welcome!
Welcome to the Advanced Materials for Energy and Electronics Group! We are a vibrant team of graduate and undergraduate students and postdoctoral researchers directed by Professor Michael Arnold of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at UW-Madison. Our group researches and develops promising materials at the extreme limit of matter for future information technology, energy, environment, and biotechnology applications.
Materials
The group has a current focus on materials including:- Carbon nanotubes - seamless cylinders of carbon only one billionth of a meter in diameter
- Atomically thin sheets of graphene
- Two-dimensional materials
- Semiconducting molecules and polymers and
- Heterostructures that integrate these components with conventional, macroscopic materials
Impact
In the ultrathin limit, new electronic and optoelectronic phenomena arise, materials become dramatically more mechanically resilient and deformable, and the flow of electrical charges and molecules can be more precisely controlled and sensitively detected. Our research aims to take advantage of these properties in order to realize transformative gains in:- Integrated circuits - higher-performance computer chips that extend Moore's law and consume less power
- Communication technologies - lower power and higher bandwidth circuits for wireless communication devices
- Unconventional electronics - circuits that can be folded, stretched, and integrated on clothing or skin
- Solar cells and photodetectors - that are based on novel materials and that are more efficient and sensitive
- Artificial materials - that rapidly and efficiently funnel energy in a fashion that mimics plants and bacteria
- Sensors - More sensitive and selective devices for detecting biological and environmental factors
- Chemical separations - Selectively permeable membranes for separating molecules (e.g. for water desalination) that are substantially thinner and more structurally precise than any existing membrane and thus dramatically more permeable, efficient, selective, and functional.