My research focuses on interfaces and interactions. The discontinuity at the interface is universal in all applications like PN junction, catalysts, biomaterials, etc. Understanding interactions at the interface will bring us towards new materials and new applications. My presentation will show three major examples in my previous research.

The first part was using nanoparticles to achieve special thermoelectric materials, called phonon glass electron crystal materials. The name of these materials come from their low thermal conductivity and high electric conductivity, which give them outstanding thermoelectric performance. However, the high cost and special skills were required. In my work, interfaces of nanoparticles actually scattered phonon but still can form network after spark plasma sintering, therefore, significantly lowered the cost of preparing such materials.

The second part was anti-virus materials, including visible like powered materials and external-condition-free materials. The key advantage was optimizing surfaces of the materials to increase interaction chance between viron and materials.

The third part was about stem cell and ultrastructure of hydrogels. The current research of hydrogel have not made any conclusion for the ultrastructure of them, which was a very basic problem in tissue engineering. My work unveiled the structure of gelatin based hydrogel and analyzed its pore distribution that was an important step for understanding stem cell migration problems.

By investigating interfaces and optimizing interactions, I believe we can design new functional materials and find new applications for current available materials.