Research Groups

Nanomaterials Laboratory

Director: Pulickel Ajayan

The Nanomaterials Laboratory is involved in the research of advanced nanomaterials with specific application areas in alternative energy, multifunctional nanocomposites, and electronics/sensor technologies. Our research focuses on the materials science and engineering of several technologies that will impact our society in the future.

Han Lab

Director: Yimo Han

The Han Lab is at the frontier of studying materials atom by atom, utilizing the most advanced electron microscopy techniques. We are open to collaborations from all areas where small things make a difference.

Nanomaterials, Nanomechanics, and Nanodevices lab

Director: Jun Lou

The interests of the Nanomaterials, Nanomechanics, and Nanodevices lab (N3L) lie in the areas of nanomaterial synthesis, nanomechanical characterization, and nanodevice fabrication for energy, environmental, and biomedical applications.

Mesoscale Materials Modeling Group

Director: Ming Tang

The Mesoscale Materials Modeling Group is interested in materials phenomena at mesoscale, which bridge between atomistic building blocks and macroscopic properties.

Thomas Research Group

Director: Ned Thomas

Thomas Research Group is focused on the development of novel polymers and polymer-based composite materials with unusual optical, mechanical, and electronic properties. The main areas of current interest include photonics, phononics, interference lithography and mechanical behavior of microtrusses, polymer physics and engineering of the mechanical and optical properties of block copolymers, liquid crystalline polymers and hybrid organic-inorganic nanocomposites.

Yakobson Research Group

Director: Boris Yakobson

The Yakobson Research Group's interests are in the theory and modeling of structure, kinetics, and properties of materials derived from macroscopic and fundamental molecular interactions. He has done ground-breaking work on the physical properties of nanotubes, in particular their electro-mechanics, and recently with graphene and graphane.

Emerging Quantum & Ultrafast Materials Lab

Director: Hanyu Zhu

The Emerging Quantum & Ultrafast Materials Lab's research focuses on discovering and engineering quantum materials. We use ultrashort light pulses and atomically precise devices to reveal the strongly coupled optical, electronic and lattice dynamics.