Research Groups
Current Projects and Collaborations
IEE — Solar Cells: At UC Santa Barbara, research based on the Nobel-Prize winning discoveries of Alan. J. Heeger is directed toward developing solar cells that can be painted, printed and mass-produced like newspapers or even woven into clothing.
IEE — Storage: The objectives are to develop new materials that overcome the power density and stability limitations faced by existing state-of-the-art materials in the conversion and storage of electrochemical energy. Emphasis is focused on fuel cells, lithium and ion flow batteries, and ultracapacitors and electrodes.
IEE — Thermoelectronics: Institute researchers are modifying materials to improve their thermoelectric performance.
Individuals
Dr. Alam has conducted research on lightweight structural materials. especially magnesium based, that if used, will cost less in terms of fuel, reducing CO2 emissions.
As winner of the Grand Challenges Explorations grant, Dr. Bazan has investigated semiconducting molecules that penetrate organism membranes. This research is used to convert wastewater into energy, a piece of technology which can help alleviate world sanitation problems. He has also done research to improve the efficiency of solar cells, using metal nanoparticles with organic devices.
Institute for Energy Efficiency
Center for Polymers and Organic Solids
Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies
Mitsubishi Chemical Center for Advanced Materials
Center for Energy Efficient Materials
California NanoSystems Institute
Dr. Bergstrom’s research includes work in resource economics. He has studied such areas as using the market to control pollution, the externalities of pollution, and the effect of finite resources on the market.
Institute for Energy Efficiency
Dr. Chabinyc studies materials for energy conversion. Some of his specific focuses include organic semiconductors and hybrid inorganic materials for energy conversion.
California NanoSystems Institute
Institute for Energy Efficiency
Mitsubishi Chemical Center for Advanced Materials
Materials Research Laboratory
Dr. Chmelka's research seeks to analyze, understand and control the atomic-level processes that govern syntheses, processing, and the resulting macroscopic properties of heterogeneous engineering materials for energy and environmental applications. His interests include zeolite catalysts for hydrocarbon conversions or automobile pollution mitigation, electrochemical materials for fuel cells and batteries, solid-state phosphors and organic photovoltaic materials for lighting, low-CO2-footprint cements for structural solids, and adapting biological molecules or processes to synthesize materials with novel properties under environmentally benign conditions.
Institute for Energy Efficiency
Materials Research Laboratory
Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies
Dr. Ford is the Director of the Center for the Sustainable Use of Renewable Feedstocks (CenSURF). CenSURF has helped facilitate projects at UCSB and three other universities that aim to promote sustainable practices in the chemical sciences. These research projects include new ways to synthesize organic compounds like ethylene from fixed sources of carbon dioxide and the conversion of biomass solids like agricultural and forest waste products to industrial chemicals and fuels. Preparing chemicals and fuels from these renewable feedstocks will reduce the use of nonrenewable fossil carbon resources and the carbon footprint on the environment.
Center for the Sustainable Use of Renewable Feedstocks
Dr. Fredrickson conducts research that involves designing specialty block copolymers used to advance lithography strategies to shrink the dimensions of microelectronic devices. He works to make these devices faster and more energy-efficient. Other research in his group aims to develop improved copolymers and processes for polymer membranes that reduce the energy requirements of water purification.
Mitsubishi Center for Advanced Materials (Director)
Complex Fluids Design Consortium (Director)
Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies
California NanoSystems Institute
Materials Research Laboratory
As Co-director of the California Nanosystems Institute (CNSI) at UCSB, Dr. Hawker has overseen research that unlocks the valuable polymers held in plastic food packages so as to use them to benefit society. His lab is working to transform plastics into specialty chemicals commonly used by industrial and food manufacturers and is developing sustainable building blocks for commodity materials. Dr. Hawker's team hopes to recycle plastics into a material equally as valuable and useful.
Institute for Multi-scale Materials Studies
Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies
Mitsubishi Chemical Center for Advanced Materials
International Center for Materials Research
Materials Research Laboratory
Center for Nanomedicine
California NanoSystems Institute
Center for Nanotechnology in Society (NSF)
Dr. Heeger, a Nobel Prize Laureate, researches the technology of semiconducting and metallic polymers. Part of his research has focused on low cost, thin, flexible solar cells. Dr. Heeger has discovered a way to make solar cell materials soluble. This solar cell "liquid-ink" can be printed like a newspaper at very low cost, revolutionizing the solar cell manufacturing process.
Center for Nanomedicine
California NanoSystems Institute
The Lipshutz Research Group at UCSB is committed to developing new green technologies that will transform the way in which organic synthesis will be performed. Their technologies provide alternatives to the use of toxic and flammable organic solvents that constitute the vast majority of the organic waste created by the chemical enterprise today. Through the use of newly engineered "designer" surfactants, which are environmentally benign, many of the most commonly used organic reactions can now be run in water under mild conditions.
Professor Manalis holds a PhD in Physics. His research interests surround the development of quantifiable sustainability measures, as well as integrated energy planning and industrial ecology. He is also a research professor in the Environmental Studies Program and associated with the Institute for Energy Efficiency. He continues to carry on research that integrates thermodynamic applications to coupling of human and natural systems, with the emphasis on information feedbacks between these systems. Priorities in this research are economic considerations within and the ethical commons alignment of human and natural systems.
Institute for Energy Efficiency
Dr. Matthys conducts Sustainability research, mostly in the Energy area. He is leading efforts in Solar Energy, especially on new Concentrated Solar Thermal approaches, as well as in Energy Efficiency projects, such as developing new technologies for HVAC systems for buildings and for ship propulsion.
Institute for Energy Efficiency
Professor McFarland’s research focuses on facilitating cost-effective and environmentally sustainable production of chemicals and fuels. He helps to investigate new conversion processes and issues related to technoeconomics and sustainability.
Institute for Energy Efficiency
Materials Research Laboratory
California NanoSystems Institute
Dr. Metiu's research involves searching for new catalysts in order to convert natural gas into useful chemicals.
Institute for Terahertz Science and Technology
Institute for Energy Efficiency
California NanoSystems Institute
Dr. Moskovits' research interests falls into two broad categories: (i) plasmonics and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) and (ii) nanowire synthesis and nanowire-based sensing. In plasmonics, he has two major goals: the first is to create plasmonic analogs of photovoltaics and photosynthetic systems. Recently, his research group produced the first device ever reported which uses the electrons resulting from the decay of plasmons in gold nanorods to reduce hydrogen ions in water and uses the positive charges left behind to oxidize water to oxygen gas. The device is a free running cell floating in water, with light as its sole energy source.
Institute for Energy Efficiency
Prof. Nguyen develops carbon-based semiconducting materials for organic solar cell applications with an emphasis on materials processing, nanoscale characterization, structure-property-performance relationships, and device physics. Organic solar cells have the potential to be a low cost, light-weight, and clean energy technology because they can be made from abundant materials and manufactured at room temperature from solution. Dr. Nguyen's lab aims to develop efficient semi-transparent organic solar cell devices for greenhouse and building integration
Center for Polymers and Organic Solids
Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies
Institute for Terahertz Science and Technology
Mitsubishi Chemical Center for Advanced Materials
Center for Energy Efficient Materials
California NanoSystems Institute
Dr. Odette's research interests focus on developing materials for future fusion and fission energy systems that will improve safety and reduce waste issues. He also looks at materials issues related to the safety of the current fleet of light water nuclear reactors.
Center for Multifunctional Materials & Structures
Institute for Energy Efficiency
Dr. O’Malley directs a group that is working to develop renewable biofuels from lignocellulose (plant waste).
California NanoSystems Institute
As co-principal investigator of the Center for the Sustainable Use of Renewable Feedstocks (CenSURF), Dr. Scott has participated in projects that aim to promote sustainable practices in the chemical sciences. She has researched ways to synthesize organic compounds like ethylene from fixed sources of carbon dioxide. These synthesized products can be used as alternatives to nonrenewable fossil fuels.
Mitsubishi Chemical Center for Advanced Materials
Professor Smith’s work focuses on U.S. public opinion and political behavior regarding energy and environmental issues. He investigates, for example, public support for or opposition to renewable energy production facilities and offshore oil drilling. He is also working on the problem of how much people know about energy and environmental issues and why people accept or reject factual claims about energy and environmental issues by scientists.
Dr. Stucky's research interests include biosystem processes (e.g., blood clotting, cascade chemistry, and hemostasis) and the chemistry associated with the efficient use of energy resources. He has done research that furthers the development of energy storage systems, including the use of solar photocatalytic synthesis to make high energy density useful chemicals, and he has studied the conversion of methane to chemicals and fuels.
Institute of Energy Efficiency
Institute for Multi-scale Materials Studies
Mitsubishi Chemical Center for Advanced Materials
Materials Research Laboratory
Center for Nanomedicine
California NanoSystems Institute
UC Center for Environmental Implications of Nanotechnology
Dr. Suh’s research focuses on sustainability through understanding materials and energy exchanges between nature and humans. His work has involved carbon footprinting, understanding drivers of greenhouse gas emissions, climate change, and industrial ecology.
International Resources Panel of UNEP
Wildfire Resiliance Initiative
World Business Council for Sustainable Development
UC Center for Environmental Implications of Nanotechnology
Dr. Wudl performs research on plastic solar cells. The goal of his work is to develop new materials and consider new concepts that improve the efficiency of solar cells.
Center for Polymers and Organic Solids
Mitsubishi Chemical Center for Advanced Materials
Center for Energy Efficient Materials
California NanoSystems Institute
Institute for Energy Efficiency
Dr. Zok's research interests include advanced cooling concepts for hypersonic space vehicles and nanomechanics of biological materials. He has also conducted research which focuses on energy efficient production and storage as part of the Institute for Energy Efficiency Production & Storage Solutions Group.
Institute for Multi-scale Materials Studies
Center for Multifunctional Materials & Structures
Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies