Research

Driven by the thrill of discovery, materials science and engineering professor Yayoi Takamura’s research group explores the “fun physics” of the magnetic and electronic properties of thin films of complex oxide materials to better understand how these materials that can be used in advanced computing.

Associate professor Marina Leite is a co-author on a new paper in Nature Energy that establishes standards and procedures for testing the stability of perovskite photovoltaic devices. The publication, the result of the 12th International Summit on Organic Photovoltaic Stability (ISOS) in October 2019, was co-written by 60 leading researchers in the field from across the globe who came together to form this consensus.

A new paper from professor Ricardo Castro’s group at UC Davis changes the understanding of how nanoscale dimensions affect the hardness of ceramics. The study, led by then Ph.D. student Arseniy Bokov, found that on nanoscale dimensions, ceramic materials give a false impression of softening because of an extensive network of almost invisible nanocracks.

If space is the final frontier, UC Davis is taking giant leaps to reach it. With expertise in human-machine cooperation, control systems and materials under extreme conditions, the university aims to make itself a rising star in space engineering and play a crucial role in the next generation of space exploration.

A publication from Professor Ricardo Castro’s group was highlighted on Materials Today. The team, consisting of Castro’s group and visiting postdoctoral scholar Flavio Souza, found that Chlorine alters electron spin in hematite, showing why the material underperformed expectations in photoelectrochemical cells and proving that spin mobility manipulation is possible.

A team of UC Davis researchers led by Assistant Professor Roopali Kukreja recently published their findings that magnetite’s transition between metal and insulator is a two-step process, instead of a one-step process like previously thought.

Magnetite is a unique material in that depending on temperature, it can either be a metal, which conducts electricity well, or an insulator, which does not. Kukreja’s team investigated this transition, theorizing that it has to do with the arrangement of the material’s electrons, and found this two-step process.

UC Davis materials science and engineering research was featured on the American Ceramic Society (ACerS) website in a recent article. The study, led by doctoral student Arseniy Bokov in Ricardo Castro’s Nanoceramics Thermochemistry Lab, looked at grain boundaries in nanocrystalline ceramics with the goal of improving toughness. The mechanical stability of these materials is important for the performance of battery electrodes and capacitors.

The 4th Annual ChemE and MSE Research Symposium at UC Davis was held in Kemper Hall on Friday, Nov. 4th, 2016. The event featured nine oral presentations in the morning, and a poster session in the afternoon. All participants commented on the quality of the research being presented, as well as the enthusiastic attendance from both Departments.

Awards were given for the following categories:

Graduate Student Poster Grand Prize:
‘Aerosol Emission During Human Speech’
Sima Asadi, Chemical Engineering, Ristenpart Research Group

Soft x-ray photoemission electron microscopy was used to observe and characterize the evolution of magnetic domain structure as a function of temperature in micromagnets patterned into epitaxial films of La₀.₇Sr₀.₃MnO₃. These images reveal the formation of novel spin textures that are a hybridization of well-described configurations and emerge from the balance between fundamental materials parameters, micromagnet geometries, and epitaxial strain.

The UC Davis student chapter of the Materials Research Society (MRS) hosted their own Science as Art competition in Spring 2016. The contest was intended to celebrate informative visualizations of data that are also aesthetically appealing.  Pictured here are the UC Davis contest winners, “Defect Etching in Gallium Nitride” by Steven Zhang, “Cobalt Nanowires” by Daniel Dryden, and “Femtosecond Laser Super Continuum Generation” by Javier Rueda.

On Thursday, October 22nd, 2015, the CHMS Department hosted the 3rd Annual CHMS Research Symposium. The Symposium highlights the exciting research being carried out by our graduate students and postdoctoral researchers.  Activities included a poster session in Kemper lobby from 11:30 to 1:30pm and an oral session in Kemper 1065 from 2:30 to 5:00pm.

Congratulations to the award winners:

Professor Ricardo Castro has developed an innovative new series of outreach and teaching materials on materials science & engineering designed for use in K-12 schools. Through Professor Castro’s efforts a new generation of students will seek careers in materials science!