Neil is a recipient of the 2019 ECS Toyota Young Investigator Fellowship. The fellowship aims to encourage young professors and scholars to pursue innovative electrochemical research in green energy technology. Through this fellowship, ECS and Toyota hope to see further innovative and unconventional technologies borne from electrochemical research. [press release]

The group had 6 talks at the 19th International Conference on Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD2019) in Bellevue, Washington, including talks from Ashley, Andrew D., Tae, Yuxin, and Neil.

Neil gave an invited talk at University of Toronto. Thanks Prof. Ted Sargent for the invitation!

Our new paper “Atomic Layer Deposition of Bismuth Vanadate Core-Shell Nanowire Photoanodes” is published in Chemistry of Materials. In this paper, we systematically tune the composition of BiVO₄ films deposited by ALD, which is enabled by use of a novel Bi-alkoxide precursor. By forming core-shell nanowires using ALD, we measure a photocurrent of 2.9 Continue Reading »

Neil gave invited talks at UC Berkeley’s Nano Seminar, and in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Vanderbilt University. Thanks Prof. Peidong Yang (UCB), and Prof. Kelsey Hatzell (Vanderbilt) for the invitations!

Our recent paper on ALD-coated 3-D current collectors for high Coulombic efficiency lithium metal anodes was selected as the front cover image in the January 2019 issue of Advanced Energy Materials! [cover image]

Our paper “Lithium Mechanics: Roles of Strain Rate and Temperature and Implications for Lithium Metal Batteries” is published in Journal of the Electrochemical Society.  In this paper we present a comprehensive set of mechanical deformation experiments on bulk lithium, demonstrating strong strain rate and temperature dependence.  This is attributed to power-law creep, which we Continue Reading »

Our new paper “Synergistic Effect of 3D Current Collectors and ALD Surface Modification for High Coulombic Efficiency Lithium Metal Anodes” is published in Advanced Energy Materials. In this paper, we systematically tune the geometry and surface chemistry of highly-ordered 3-D electrode architectures. By forming core-shell pillars using ALD, we measure Coulombic Efficiency values up to Continue Reading »

Neil co-organized a symposium at the Fall MRS Meeting entitled “In Situ/Operando Analysis of Electrochemical Materials and Interfaces”, together with Prof. Matt McDowell.  Ph.D. candidates Andrew Davis and Adrian Sanchez each presented their work at the symposium. Neil also presented an invited talk in the Solid-State Batteries symposium (thanks to Prof. Liangbing Hu for the Continue Reading »

Neil gave an invited talk in the Manufacturing Interest Group at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  Thanks Prof. Sameh Tawfick for the invitation!