Wanyi Nie
University at Buffalo, NY·Materials Science
Chirality, or handedness, describes objects that cannot be superimposed on their mirror images, like left and right hands. In materials, handedness can control how they absorb or emit polarized light and how they carry electrons with different spin, a quantum property of electrons.
- Fields
Materials Science
Physics
Chemistry
- Topics
chirality
chiral perovskites
hybrid perovskites
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Aug 2028
What they work on
- Grow and characterize heterostructures of chiral hybrid perovskites and 2D transition metal dichalcogenides to study interlayer excitons, electron–hole pairs spanning the interface.
- Test whether spin-polarized charge transfer across the interface carries chirality and spin from the perovskite into the TMD, using space- and time-resolved photoluminescence mapping of polarization.
- Determine how proximity-induced spin-orbit coupling and the orientation of chiral rotation affect valley degeneracy and spin-selective exciton behavior in TMDs.
- Use many-body first-principles calculations of electronic structure and excitons, plus symmetry analysis of the effective Hamiltonian, to explain the experimental results and guide materials selection.
More about the research
A key open question is how handedness can transfer from a chiral material to a neighboring non-chiral one. This project studies that transfer from chiral hybrid perovskites, crystalline semiconductors that become chiral when chiral organic molecules are built in, to atomically thin two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors with strong optical properties.
Why it matters
Understanding how handedness and spin pass between materials could let device designers add spin-selective, polarization-sensitive behavior to semiconductors without magnets. This could inform future quantum and optical technologies. Chiral perovskites and 2D semiconductors are also candidates for photovoltaics, optical communications and lasers, so clearer rules for their interfaces may guide materials selection.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Leonid Butov
University of California-San Diego, CA·Physics
Study spin transport carried by indirect excitons, electron-hole pairs split across separate semiconductor layers, using optical measurements in layered heterostructures.
You Zhou
University of Maryland, MD·Physics·Early-career
Fabricate coupled bilayers of transition metal dichalcogenide semiconductors and test how their atomic structure and stacking affect the stability of Wigner crystals, ordered patterns of electrons.
Diana Qiu
Yale University, CT·Physics·Early-career
Develop ab initio software built on the GW plus Bethe–Salpeter equation approach that calculates how electrons in chiral hybrid perovskites absorb left- versus right-circularly polarized light (circular dichroism).
The school
University at Buffalo: 32 labs on PI Pages, $542M a year on research, 316 research doctorates a year.
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