Next Generation Materials Scientists

Date

14 December 2021
4:30pm to 6:00pm
(SG Time)

Prof. Sanjay Mathur
Chair Professor and Director of the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry, University of Cologne, Germany

Title: Chemically Processed Functional Ceramics for Energy and Health Applications

Abstract
Chemical processing of functional ceramics has played a key role in converging disciplines, which is especially true for their bridge-building role in integrating the concepts of inorganic materials synthesis with biomedical applications. Out of a vast variety of metal and metal oxide nanoparticles that have been developed for medicinal purposes, iron oxides are one of a few materials that made it through clinical trials. Due to their high biocompatibility, stability and the abundance of iron in our environment, which results in low costs of iron-based materials, diverse iron oxide nanoparticles have been prepared for biomedical applications. Examples will include application of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and drug delivery applications. In addition, metal oxide nanostructures with hetero-contacts and phase boundaries offer unique platform for designing materials architectures for energy harvesting applications. As viable alternative to water electrolysis, photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting has emerged as a competitive technology being capable of converting solar energy directly into chemical energy using stable and efficient photocatalysts for solar hydrogen production. Hematite films grown from iron precursors showed pronounced changes in crystallographic textures depending upon whether CVD was performed with or without external magnetic field. Finally, the current challenges of integration of nanomaterials in existing device concepts will be discussed. 

Biography
Sanjay Mathur is a Chair Professor and Director of the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Cologne in Germany. He is also the Director of the Institute of Renewable Energy Sources at the Xian Jiao Tong University, Xian, China and a World Class University Professor at the Chonbuk University in Korea. He is a Visiting Professor in the Institute of Global Innovation Research at TUAT, Japan and a SPARC Faculty at IIT Madras, India. His research interests focus on application of nanomaterials and advanced ceramics for energy technologies. He holds 11 patents and has authored/ co-authored over 500 original research publications (h index, 63) and has edited several books.  He serves as the Editor for Journal of Electroceramics, and for NanoEnergy. He is an Academician of the World Academy of Ceramics and Fellow of the American Ceramic Society and ASM International. He was awarded the Honorary Doctorate of the Vilnius University in 2016. He is an Academician of the World Academy of Ceramics and Fellow of the American Ceramic Society.  Since 2018, he chairs the Academic Affairs Committee of the Materials Research Society. He was awarded the R C Mehrotra Lifetime Achievement Award of Indian Science Congress Association in January 2020. He is the President-elect of the American Ceramic Society. He was elected to the European Academy of Science in 2020.

Dr. Liu Hongfei
Senior Scientist
Structural Materials Department, Institute of Materials Research and Engineering, A*STAR

Title: CVD and ALD Synthesis of a<-MoO₃: From Belts to 2D Nanosheets

Abstract
The success in exfoliation and later chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of graphene, i.e., single-layer nanosheets of carbon atoms crystallized in hexagonal structure, triggered extensive investigations in non-graphene two-dimensional (2D) materials, driven by their dimension-reduction-induced physically unique and technologically useful properties. Recent studies on layered -MoO3 revealed interesting new optic physics with respect to phonon polaritons and their anisotropic transportations that could have important applications when developing novel functional semiconductor devices. In this webinar, we will briefly introduce chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and atomic layer deposition (ALD) growths and characterization of -MoO3 crystals towards their 2D nanosheets, addressing the existing fabrication issues and suggesting potential solving methods.

Biography
Liu Hongfei is a senior scientist at IMRE/A*STAR. He received his B.E in Semiconductor Physics and Devices from Xi’an Jiaotong University in 1996 and PhD in Condensed-Matter Physics from the Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2001. He joined IMRE in 2006 after doing postdoctoral research in a few western countries. His research is focused on epitaxy, deposition/coating, treatment, characterization, and application of solid-state materials.