Faculty and students in our Center for Materials Research have been very busy with grants and research during February 2023. CMR at NSU conducts pioneering research in materials science and engineering and provides graduate education at the masters and doctoral levels. CMR research falls into four categories: Optics, Plasmonics and Meta-materials; Nano-materials and Nano-technology; Advanced Functional Materials and Devices; and Semiconductor Materials and Devices. CMR researchers seek to understand fundamental science and develop new solutions for technical challenges.
Messaoud Bahoura, Ph.D., Professor of Engineering and Director of the Center for Materials Research, received an award of $499,989 from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for his project titled “Excellence in Research: Dynamic All-Solid-State Hybrid Electro-Thermo Chromic Solar Radiation Modulator for Smart Windows Applications.” The project aims to solve the current limitations of smart windows by combining the effects of electrochromism and thermochromism into one hybrid coating structure to provide an adaptive solar modulator able to change its light transmission properties depending on the requirements of the building and the weather conditions. This dynamic and low-powered all-solid-state hybrid coating would provide independent, dynamic control over the transmission of visible and IR solar radiation with high optical contrast, fast switching times, and long cycle life. This three years project supports one research associate professor, two undergraduate students, and three high school students.
In addition, Bahoura delivered hands-on activities to students at B. M. Williams elementary school in Chesapeake. This one-day-a-week activity for 4 weeks after school, was an enrichment program attended by interested first and second-grade students.
He presented hands-on experiments and demonstrations about nanotechnology. Students were able to interactively see how small the nano is and what is different about the nano. They explored how tools are used at the nano level, discovered why the blue morpho butterfly has blue wings, saw how nanotechnology is used in water filtration and played with a powder that can absorb up to 1,000 times its weight in water.
Jasmine Beckford, a Ph.D. candidate at the Center for Materials Research and a CREST CREAM scholar, advisor Dr. Messaoud Bahoura, published her research titled “Influence of oxygen on the optical, electrical, and heating properties of gallium-doped zinc oxide (GZO) films,” in AIP Advances 13, 025249 (2023); https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0134151. Published 10 February 2023. Co-authors: Makhes Behera, Kelsea Yarbrough, Sangram Pradhan, and Messaoud Bahoura.
Beckford also received a travel award from ERN to present at the 2023 Emerging Researchers National (ERN) Conference in STEM in Washington, DC, on February 10. This conference is hosted by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Inclusive STEM Ecosystems for Equity & Diversity (ISEED) Programs, and the National Science Foundation (NSF), Division of Human Resource Development (HRD) within the Directorate for Education and Human Resources (EHR). The presentation was entitled “Oxygen Dependent Study of Gallium Doped Zinc Oxide (GZO) Films for Ideal Transparent Heater Applications” and co-authored by Makhes Behera, Sangram Pradhan, and Messaoud Bahoura.
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Kelsea A. Yarbrough, a Ph.D. candidate at the Center for Materials Research and a CREST CREAM scholar, advisor Dr. Messaoud Bahoura, published her research titled “Observation of MOSFET-like behavior of a thin-film transistor based on amorphous oxide semiconductor with suitable integration of atomic layered deposited high-k gate insulator,” AIP Advances 13, 025041 (2023); https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0136037. 13 February 2023. Co-authors: Makhes Behera, Jasmine Beckford, Sangram Pradhan, and Messaoud Bahoura.
Yarbrough also received a travel award from ERN to present at the 2023 Emerging Researchers National (ERN) Conference in STEM in Washington, DC on February 10. The presentation was entitled “Effect of Post Annealing on the Electrical Behavior of MOS Capacitors” and co-authored by Makhes Behera, Sangram Pradhan, and Messaoud Bahoura.
Jacob Strimaitis, a Ph.D. candidate at the Center for Materials Research and CREST CREAM scholar, advisor Dr. Messaoud Bahoura, received a travel award from ERN to present at the 2023 Emerging Researchers National (ERN) Conference in STEM in Washington, DC, on February 10. The presentation was entitled “Investigation of Calcination Temperature on Porous CaFe2O4 Anodes” and was co-authored by Samuel Danquah, Clifford Denize, Sangram Pradhan, and Messaoud Bahoura. Jacob won 1st place in the Graduate Student Oral Presentation in the Nanoscience and Materials Science division contest.
Strimaitis also submitted his research titled “Investigation of the Effect of Degree of Prelithiation on High-Performing Hybrid Supercapacitors Made with Porous CaFe2O4 Anodes,” to a peer-reviewed journal “Journal of Energy Storage (JoES; IF - 8.9).”
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Mamadou Mbaye, a Ph.D. candidate at the Center for Materials Research and CREST CREAM scholar, advisor Dr. Messaoud Bahoura, presented at the 2023 Emerging Researchers National (ERN) Conference in STEM in Washington, DC on February 10. The presentation was entitled “Machine Learning-aided Thermoelectric Materials Design and Discovery” co-authored by Sangram Pradhan, and Messaoud Bahoura.
Clifford Denize, a Ph.D. candidate at the Center for Materials Research and CREST CREAM scholar, advisor Dr. Messaoud Bahoura, received a travel award from ERN to present at the 2023 Emerging Researchers National (ERN) Conference in STEM in Washington, DC on February 10. The presentation was entitled “Effect of Sulfurization on the Electrochemical Performance of FeS2 Thin Film Cathode for Li-Ion Batteries” and was co-authored by Sondai Riddick, Jacob Strimaitis, Makhes Behera, Sangram Pradhan, and Messaoud Bahoura.
The mission of the graduate programs in the Center for Materials Research (CMR) is to prepare students for careers in industry, government, and academia in the interdisciplinary field of Materials Science and Engineering. The CMR provides infrastructure support for innovative research on the characterization and processing of advanced materials and devices, and strives to identify and inspire the next generation of individuals in the burgeoning area of MSE. Ultimately, the Center’s goals are to produce a diverse and talented cadre of scientists and engineers, make a global impact through cutting-edge research, and promote STEM fields to the community, the nation, and world.
https://www.nsu.edu/cmr/