Andre Mkhoyan
University of Minnesota, MN·Materials Science
No crystal is perfect. Every crystalline material contains defects, places where the regular pattern of atoms breaks.
- Fields
Materials Science
Physics
Engineering
- Topics
line defects
dislocations
disclinations
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through May 2027
What they work on
- Identify the atomic structure and chemical makeup of unconventional line defects in perovskite oxide (ABO3) thin films using atomic-resolution analytical scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM).
- Determine how composition and strain control the formation of line defects in perovskite oxides, comparing films imaged with ex-situ STEM.
- Watch line defects form and rearrange as temperature changes, using in-situ STEM experiments inside the microscope.
- Combine STEM observations with density functional theory (DFT) calculations to predict and interpret the properties of line defects.
More about the research
Some defects are line defects, only a few atoms wide but running the whole length of the crystal. Because they are so thin and so long, they act like chains of atoms embedded inside the host material. They may have electronic or quantum properties that the surrounding material does not have. If these defects could be understood and controlled, they could become a new way to give nanoscale materials useful properties for smaller, more capable electronic devices.
Why it matters
Defect engineering could give chip and device makers a new route to building nanomaterials with tailored properties, beyond shrinking existing designs. Understanding how line defects form in perovskite oxides could guide future electronic and quantum materials. It also expands basic knowledge of defects in ceramic crystals.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Megan Holtz
Colorado School of Mines, CO·Materials Science·Early-career
Control symmetry and symmetry-breaking in the polar ordering of hexagonal ABO3 oxides using atomically precise molecular beam epitaxy, aiming to stabilize new ferroelectric functions and emergent phenomena.
Pratik Dholabhai
Rochester Institute of Technology, NY·Materials Science·Early-career
Build a multiscale computational framework for the CaO + CO2 ⇌ CaCO3 looping cycle, and validate it with atomic-resolution and in situ gas-cell transmission electron microscopy, which images reactions as they happen.
Daniel Agterberg
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, WI·Physics
Develop a comprehensive theory of pseudospin in crystals with non-symmorphic symmetry, where the usual spin-1/2 behavior breaks down, and work out its consequences for Cooper pairing and magnetic ordering.
The school
University of Minnesota: 88 labs on PI Pages, $1.4B a year on research, 722 research doctorates a year.
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