TMS2021 Virtual will feature three special symposia organized by recipients of the TMS Frontiers of Materials Award, a competitive award given to top-performing early career professionals. As part of the award, the honoree organizes a symposium on a hot or emergent technical topic and delivers a keynote lecture during the symposium. Meet this year’s awardees and make time to hear these invited presentations.
2021 Functional Nanomaterials: Translating Innovation into Pioneering Technologies
Symposium Dates: Monday, March 15, 2021, and Tuesday, March 16, 2021
Time: 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. EDT
Symposium Organizer and Keynote Speaker: Huanyu Cheng, Pennsylvania State University
Keynote Presentation Title: "Wearable Gas Sensors with Wireless Communication and RF Energy Harvesting Capabilities"
Keynote Presentation Date and Time: 9:10 a.m., Tuesday, March 16, 2021
About the Presentation
Small-footprint deformable gas sensors that can be deployed on the skin surface to detect and distinguish multiple compounds in real-time are integral to accurate monitoring of health conditions. Low-dimensional nanomaterials or mixed metal oxides are state-of-the-art gas sensing materials that change their resistance upon binding of various target gases. However, it is challenging to integrate within a microscale footprint the numerous nanomaterials required to deconvolute signals from complex gaseous mixtures. The core innovation will be our ability to use laser writing to synthesize and pattern numerous nanomaterials on laser-induced graphene gas sensing platform in order to facilitate the deconvolution of complex gas responses in mixtures. When combined with the stretchable antennas for wireless communication and rectennas for ambient RF energy harvesting, wearable gas sensors for health monitoring or toxic gas detection open new opportunities in epidermal electronic devices to enhance the operator and mitigate exposure.
About the Speaker
Huanyu (Larry) Cheng is an assistant professor of engineering science and mechanics (ESM) and Materials Research Institute (MRI) at The Pennsylvania State University. He earned a Ph.D. and a master’s degree from Northwestern University in 2015 and 2011, respectively, and a bachelor’s degree from Tsinghua University (China) in 2010. His research group focuses on the design and fabrication of biologically inspired stretchable and transient electronics with applications in robotics, biomedicine, and energy. Cheng has co-authored more than 90 peer-reviewed publications and his work has been recognized with several awards. He also serves as an associate section editor-in-chief for Biosensors; associate editor for Computers in Biology and Medicine, Frontiers in Nutrition, and Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology; and reviewer for more than 130 international journals.
Low-Dimensional Materials and Interfaces for Next Generation Computing
Symposium Date: Tuesday, March 16, 2021, and Wednesday, March 17, 2021
Time: 8:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. EDT
Symposium Organizer and Keynote Speaker: Deep Jariwala, University of Pennsylvania
Keynote Presentation Title: "2D/3D Heterostructures for Low-power Logic and Memory Devices"
Keynote Presentation Date and Time: 9:15 a.m., Tuesday, March 16, 2021
About the Presentation
The power and efficiency of conventional computers continues to rise despite the slowdown or “death” of Moore’s law. This progress has been largely enabled by clever engineering at the architecture level of hardware as well as software. However, the growing need to process vast amounts of data for internet of things and other “big data” applications means conventional computers have to become more energy efficient. There is where low-dimensional materials such as 2D semiconductors present a unique opportunity, particularly in conjunction with conventional, commercialized 3D materials such as silicon and III-nitrides. Here, we will present our recent work on gate-tunable diode and tunnel junction devices based on integration of 2D chalcogenides with Si and GaN. Following this, I will present our recent work on non-volatile memories based on ferroelectric field effect transistors (FE-FETs) made using a heterostructure of MoS2/AlScN as well as AlScN-based ferroelectric tunnel junction (FTJ) devices.
About the Speaker
Deep Jariwala is an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Systems Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn). He completed his undergraduate degree in Metallurgical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology BHU, in 2010 and his Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering at Northwestern University in 2015. Jariwala was a Resnick Prize Postdoctoral Fellow in Applied Physics at Caltech from 2015-2017 before joining Penn in 2018. His research interests broadly lie at the intersection of new materials, surface science and solid-state devices for electronics, opto-electronics, energy harvesting, and quantum information science.
Jariwala’s works have earned him multiple, prestigious early-career awards including the Russell and Sigurd Varian Award of the American Vacuum Society (AVS), the Richard L. Greene Award of the American Physical Society (APS), and the Johannes E. and Julia R. Weertman Fellowship at Northwestern University. He has also been elected to the Early Career Advisory Board of the American Chemical Society’s Nano Letters and was named as one of Forbes magazine’s 30 scientists under 30. He has also been awarded the Army Research Office Young Investigator Award as well as the Early Career Award for the journal Nanomaterials and has been invited to the Frontiers of Engineering Conference of the National Academy of Engineering.
Radiation Processing of Materials
Symposium Date: Thursday, March 18, 2021
Time: 8:30 a.m. to Noon EDT
Symposium Organizer and Keynote Speaker: Jessika Rojas, Virginia Commonwealth University
Keynote Presentation Title: "Ionizing Radiation in the Synthesis and Processing of Nanocomposites for Medical and Environmental Applications"
Keynote Presentation Date and Time: 8:30 a.m., Thursday, March 18, 2021
About the Presentation
It is frequently thought that ionizing radiation, such as alpha, beta, gamma, x-rays, causes deleterious effects on materials. Although true under some circumstances, ionizing radiation is also a powerful tool for materials processing in areas such as controlled synthesis of nanostructures, materials’ surface, and nanostructure proprieties modification, among others. For example, it has been evidenced that radiation chemistry for materials’ synthesis can be performed at ambient conditions (no thermal input required), it eliminates the need for reducing agents, and it does not generate toxic byproducts. This talk highlights the use of ionizing radiation as a synthesis and processing tool of inorganic nanomaterials for applications in medicine and catalysis. Initially, the synthesis of metal nanoparticles supported on various materials such as ceramic nanoparticles and 3D supports will be discussed. A synergism between nanoparticles and support often leads to enhanced properties. Finally, X-ray irradiation as a novel surface treatment to improve the photocatalysis performance of TiO2 will be described in light of the materials’ surface chemistry.
About the Speaker
Jessika Rojas is an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering and affiliate faculty at the Radiation Oncology Department in the School of Medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). She holds a B.S in engineering physics and a M.Sc. in materials engineering and processes from the National University of Colombia, and M.Sc. and Ph.D. in nuclear engineering from Missouri University of Science and Technology. Rojas’ primary research interests include radiation physics and chemistry, applications of radioisotopes, radiation processing, and nuclear materials. She has been actively working on radiation-induced synthesis of nanomaterials and radiation effects on the physical and chemical properties of nanomaterials. Furthermore, she also worked on developing multifunctional nanomaterials as carriers for radioisotopes for targeted radioimmunotherapy (RIT) and medical diagnostic imaging as well as radiosensitizing nanostructures that have the potential for enhancing the external radiation dose when incorporated in the tissue of interest. Rojas truly believes in the huge potential of ionizing radiation in materials science for synthesis and processing, bringing beneficial results for many diverse applications.