Work on an influential project focusing on nanocalorimetry to investigate material properties and microstructures at extremely high rates and develop new nanocalorimeter methods, chips, instruments and techniques to explore thermal measurements in new areas such as thin films, polymers, stable glasses, semiconductors, nanomaterials, biomaterials, cells, reactive materials, energetic materials, catalysis, battery materials and additive manufacturing materials.

Nanocalorimetry is a microchip-based thermal measurement metrology for small scale samples, capable of quantifying rapid reactions and transformations up to 1 000 000 °C/s. The fast and ultrafast thermal analysis method provide insights into previously inaccessible physical properties, such as materials far from equilibrium state or the heat capacity of low dimensional materials. The increasing sensitivity provides insights into thin films and even self-assembled monolayers that are ubiquitous in micro- and nanoelectronics.

Furthermore, due to its small size and low power requirements, it is convenient to combine nanocalorimetry with other microstructural and microanalysis techniques to achieve detailed in-situ measurements or create arrays of measurements for combinatorial or high throughput measurements to create data libraries beneficial for machine learning. 

References:

[1] Feng Yi, David A. LaVan, Nanocalorimetry: Exploring materials faster and smaller, Applied Physics Reviews 2019, 6, 031302.

[2] Feng Yi, Ana Stevanovic, William A. Osborn, A. Kolmakov, David A. LaVan, A Multi-Environment Nanocalorimeter with Electrical Contacts for Use in a Scanning Electron Microscope, Materials Horizons, 2017, 4(6): 1128-1134.

[3] Feng Yi, Jeffery B. DeLisio, Michael R. Zachariah, David A. LaVan, Nanocalorimetry coupled Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry:  Identifying evolved species during high rate thermal measurements, Analytical Chemistry, 2015, 87: 9740-9744

key words

Nanocalorimetry; Fast scanning calorimetry; Thermal analysis; Materials characterization; Phase transformation; Catalysis; Thin films; Nanomaterials; MEMS sensors; Instrumentation

Citizenship:  Open to U.S. citizens

Level:  Open to Postdoctoral applicants