Assistant Professor (Physics and Astronomy)

Office: Clippinger 167
Telephone: 740-593-9610
Fax: 740-593-0433
Email: cheng3@ohio.edu

Nanoscale confinement is an interesting physical phenomenon that is based on constraint of materials in nanosized cages. Materials under such condition exhibit novel physical and chemical properties that could lead to new applications in nanoscience and nanotechnology.

The Chen research group uses a bottom-up approach to synthesize materials with periodically-arranged nanosized pores (i.e., mesoporous materials). These porous materials are ideal hosts for studying the nanoscale confinement due to their diverse pore morphology and tunable pore sizes. Our focus of guest materials is mainly on semiconductors that possess interesting thermal and electric properties. The long-term goal of our research is to understand and utilize the novel structures and properties of confined materials for solving energy and environmental problems.

In order to study the structures and properties of materials under nanoscale confinement, we apply bench-top as well as synchrotron x-ray techniques. At Ohio University, we use a small-angel x-ray scattering system to characterize the nanostructure of materials. Off campus, we utilize the synchrotron facility at Argonne National Laboratory to study the atomic structure of materials. Examples of the synchrotron x-ray techniques are x-ray absorption fine structure, x-ray nanoprobe, and wide-angle x-ray scattering. Materials properties such as phase-transition behavior and mechanical properties can also be studied by these x-ray techniques.  

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