Arpun Nagaraja

Ph.D. Candidate

B.S. Materials Sci. & Eng.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

arnagaraja[at]gmail[dot]com

Arpun is working on developing new crystalline p-type transparent conducting oxides for use in photovoltaics. A p-type TCO would enable devices like stacked solar cells, increasing photoconversion efficiency by allowing us to harvest more of the solar spectrum with a single device. Currently, he is investigating the effect of extrinsic doping on the spinel compound Cr2MnO4. This project is part of the Center for Inverse Design, a collaboration with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Oregon State University, the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, and University of Colorado Boulder.

His interests outside the lab include Krav Maga, boxing, and getting other people to take him sailing.

Patrick Duffy

Ph.D. Candidate

B.S. Materials Sci. & Eng.
University of Minnesota

patrickduffy2011
[at]u[dot]northwestern[dot]edu

Patrick works on the DOE fuel cell project, aimed at lowering the operating temperature of Solid Oxide Fuel Cells by examining compatibility between promising materials, measuring electrical properties of phases of interest using AC impedance spectroscopy, and investigating novel characterization methods. He is currently investigating the phase stability during processing of the electrolyte material strontium- and magnesium-doped lanthanum gallate (LSGM) with various nickel-containing electrode materials including NiO and La2NiO4. Recently, he has begun working on developing a novel technique to characterize electrode/electrolyte electrochemical interfaces using a hemispherical electrolyte probe.

He enjoys sailing, camping, hiking, soccer, and listening to or playing various styles of music.

Alex Dolgonos

Ph.D. Candidate

B.S. Materials Sci. & Eng.
University of Pennsylvania

dolgonos
[at]u[dot]northwestern[dot]edu

Using as a basis the so-called “T-phase” in the Ga₂O₃-In₂O₃-SnO₂ system—a phase discovered at Northwestern University—Alex is developing new transparent conducting oxides (TCOs) for applications in organic photovoltaic devices. Working in close collaboration with the Poeppelmeier group in the Chemistry department, he is working to improve on the electrical, chemical, and economic properties of tin-doped indium oxide (ITO)—the current standard in TCO technology—through targeted cation substitution in the T-phase crystal structure either by n-type dopants or by co-doping. Alex also collaborates with the Freeman theoretical physics group to analyze the effects of band structure and energetics on the electronic and optical mechanisms in the crystal system.

Alex loves playing sports in general—competing for the Mat. Sci. intramural teams—but his main athletic passion is skiing, having been involved in ski racing since his freshman year of high school; he is now the coach of the Northwestern University Ski Team.

Stephanie Moffit

Graduate Student

B.S. Materials Sci. & Eng.
University of California
Santa Barbara

stephaniemoffitt2012
[at]u[dot]northwestern[dot]edu

Stephanie works on the indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO) project. She is interested in analyzing the origin of defects in amorphous IGZO. By combing experimental results with local structure studies at Argonne National Laboratory’s Advanced Photon Source (APS) and theoretical studies (with a collaborator), she hopes to enhance the understanding of structure property relationships in a-IGZO and other amorphous oxides. This work should guide the development and optimization of current and next-generation amorphous electronic materials.

Stephanie loves dancing of all sorts and enjoys playing flag-football and visiting art museums.

Sam Miller

Graduate Student

B.S. Materials Sci. & Eng.
Alfred University

samuelmiller2018
[at]u[dot]northwestern[dot]edu

Working within the scope of developing tools and necessary data sets for computational and data mining targeting of thermoelectrics, Sam will be experimentally evaluating and validating new oxide thermoelectric candidates. By focusing on intrinsic properties, it will be possible to identify materials with the maximum achievable Power Factor. These promising candidates can then be further studied to increase efficiency through other means such as nanostructuring. This project is part of the Materials Genome Initiative and is in collaboration with the Colorado School of Mines, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and the University of Colorado Boulder.

Sam enjoys soccer, biking, skiing, board games, and listening to music.

Karen Derocher

Graduate Student

B.S. Materials Engineering
Iowa State University

kaderocher[at]gmail[dot]com

Karen works on the indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO) project, using electrical characterization of thin films in order to establish structure-property relationships.

Karen enjoys camping, hiking, running, and listening to music.

Tor Olav Sunde

Post Doctoral Researcher

M.S. & Ph.D.
Materials Sci. & Eng.
Norwegian University of
Science and Technology

tor[dot]sunde
[at]northwestern[dot]edu

Tor is working on the synthesis and characterization of ternary equiatomic (1:1:1) ABX materials, also known as Half-Heusler alloys. A number of compounds within this family of materials are predicted to be stable, yet have never been prepared or reported in the literature. Because of their closed shell electron structures, many of these materials are predicted to be semiconductors with optoelectronic, thermoelectric, piezoelectric or other interesting and useful properties. Of particular interest is developing an ABX material which can be used as a transparent p-type conductor. The project is part of the Center for Inverse Design (CID), a collaboration with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Oregon State University, the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, and University of Colorado Boulder.

His interests are sports, particularly soccer, music and visiting the many museums and attractions in Chicago.