Material synthesis with control over the size, composition and microstructure enables research on novel physical phenomena and unique properties originating from size and dimensionality. On the one hand, we are interested in using these material systems as models to access fundamental scientific problems; on the other hand, we design/fabricate materials with specific functionalities for desired applications in energy, medicine, and quantum sensing.
Characterization of individual nanostructures has always been challenging, as one has to exclude the average effect/contribution from environment, and build up a correlation among the specific composition, structure, and property. We focus on developing tools/protocols that can access the structure/composition/property of the same individual nanostructures, so that the structure-composition-property correlation can be established. We are interested in the probing/manipulating—measuring capability of the tools, so that behavior/property of the tested system can be studied with external stimuli. Such a goal is realized by correlating a few spatially resolved microscopy/spectroscopy methods (e.g. atomic force microscopy based techniques for individual probing/manipulating nano-object, electron microscopy for structure/morphology characterization, electron energy loss spectroscopy for electronic structure/composition analysis, and NV based magnetometry for magnetism evaluation).
We aim at developing quantum sensors and protocols to study intriguing problems in condense matter physics, bio-medicine, and energy devices. On the one hand, we are interested in developing quantum sensor with high sensitivity and wide response to a variety of physical/chemical/biological parameters, as well as specific protocols/interfaces that enable quantum control and sensing in specific experimental systems. On the other hand, we apply quantum sensing to study key problems in different science/engineering disciplines, such as dynamical criticality in nanomagnetism; spatially resolved deformation transfer in soft matters, and dynamic fluctuation of live systems; endogenous/exogenous processes at subcellular level; and spatially resolved ionic flow/heat dissipation in energy storage devices, etc.
We are interested in interaction of nanomaterials with the most basic units of our biological systems, i.e. cells, and exploit unique application of nanomaterials in medicine and subcellular sensing. We try to understand the effects of various materials parameters, including size, shape, surface charge state, surface chemistry, hardness, and possible degradation of the nanomaterials on cellular uptake, intracellular trafficking, cellular excretion, and various physiological response of the cells, and tailor the fabrication of nanostructures for therapeutic and vaccine applications.
We are interested in the mechanistic understanding of dynamic changes in energy storage materials in operating devices, and use the understanding as feedback for material design in energy storage device.
