A Method for Controlling Growth Instability in Template-Assisted Electrodeposition of Nanowires
Princeton Docket # 14-3021
The synthesis of nanowires for future electronics and energy applications requires scalability, density, reproducibility, and cost effectiveness. In this regard, template-assisted electrodeposition methods offer distinct advantages for synthesizing nanowires. However, the incomplete and unstable growth of nanowires presents a major challenge for such widespread applications.
Researchers in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Princeton University have devised a method to control the growth instability. By spatially controlling the diffusion of ions across the porous template, a self-controlled growth of the nanowires is triggered that can control the growth instability and hence increases the fraction of long nanowires by reducing the length variation between them. In addition to shedding light on a key nanotechnology, the results provide fundamental insights into interfacial growth processes in materials science.
Applications:
· For the creation of large-scale nanowire-based energy/electronic devices such as
o Thermoelectric devices
o Photovoltaic devices
o Electrochemical energy storage devices
o Logic circuits
o Non-volatile memory devices
Advantages:
· Promotes uniform growth of nanowires
· Controls instability of nanowires
· Capable of compartmenting individual nanowires on a large area
Inventors
Howard Stone is the Donald R. Dixon '69 and Elizabeth W. Dixon Professor in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Princeton University. His research has been concerned with a variety of fundamental problems in fluid motions dominated by viscosity, so-called low Reynolds number flows, and has frequently featured a combination of theory, computer simulation and modeling, and experiments to provide a quantitative understanding of the flow phenomenon under investigation. Prof. Stone is the recipient of the most prestigious fluid mechanics prize, the Batchelor Prize 2008, for the best research in fluid mechanics in the last ten years. He is also a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences.
Talal T. Al-Housseiny, PhD, studied chemical engineering and mathematics at Purdue University, where he graduated with highest distinction in 2007. He spent several years in industry working on refining and petrochemicals processes, and on the rheological formulation of complex oral care products. In 2014, Dr. Al-Housseiny obtained his PhD from Princeton University, where he was recognized with a number of prestigious fellowships including the National Science Foundation graduate research fellowship and the Wallace Memorial Fellowship for scholarly excellence. His dissertation, which he conducted under the supervision of Prof. Howard A. Stone, spanned a wide variety of areas within fluid mechanics and soft matter physics. Since then, Dr. Al-Housseiny has been delivering business strategy solutions to major companies and investors in the oil and gas industry.
Sangwoo Shin, PhD, received his BS and PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Yonsei University, Korea in 2005 and 2012, respectively. His study involving heat and mass transfer in micro/nanoscale materials and devices was awarded with the Distinguished Thesis Award from Yonsei University in 2012. In 2013, he joined Princeton University as a postdoctoral researcher to work on dynamics and transport in small-scale systems with Prof. Howard A. Stone.
Beom Seok Kim, PhD, studies mechanical engineering at Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea. He received his diploma degree cum laude in 2004. In 2011, he obtained his PhD under the supervision of Professor Hyung Hee Cho at Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea. During his dissertation, he studied convective heat transfer to develop a novel technology to enhance heat and energy transfer performance in multi-phase heat transfer systems. Since 2012, as a research professor he has been conducting research on designing a smart interface and pursuing its engineering applications for multifunctional heat and energy transfer at Heat Transfer Laboratory under Prof. H. H. Cho.
Hyung Hee Cho is Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea. He received his PhD in mechanical engineering from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, in 1992. He is currently an associate editor of the International Journal of Fluid Machinery and Systems, and an editorial board member of Advances in Mechanical Engineering. His research interests include thermal management and cooling of high temperature devices. He is a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, a scientific council member of the International Centre for Heat and Mass Transfer, a general member of the National Academy of Engineering of Korea, and the president of Korean Society for Fluid Machinery.
Intellectual Property and Technology Status
Patent protection is pending.
Industrial collaborators are sought for the further development and commercialization of this opportunity.
Contact
Michael Tyerech
Princeton University Office of Technology Licensing • (609) 258-6762• tyerech@princeton.edu
Laurie Bagley
Princeton University Office of Technology Licensing • (609) 258-5579• lbagley@princeton.edu