News Archive

2017
December 2017 - The Milliron group is excited to be part of the new NSF MRSEC at UT Austin, the Center for Dynamics and Control of Materials. Stay tuned for related science updates!

December 2017 - Hsin-Che and Vikram is our newest graduate student addition to our group. Welcome!

August 2017 - We welcome our newest graduate student Kihoon Kim and our visiting scholar Bharat Tandon to our group!

August 2017 - Latest paper by Sungyeon on electrochromic tungsten oxide nanorods is published in Nano Letters.

August 2017 - Our latest UT graduate Clayton Dahlman successfully defends his thesis. Congrats!

April 2017 - Latest article by Ankit and Rob on metal oxide localized surface plasmon resonance is out in Annual Reviews.

March 2017 - Our new collaborative paper with the Ringe group and NCEM at Berkeley Lab demonstrates coupling between metal oxide plasmons and vibrational modes of ligands.

March 2017 - We're excited to publish our first collaborative paper with Sean Roberts' team. Read here about ultrafast dynamics of metal oxide plasmons.

March 2017 - Delia is honored by the Welch Foundation with the 2017 Norman Hackerman Award for Chemical Research.

February 2017 - DMG welcomes newest postdoc member Sandeep Ghosh from the Italian Institute of Technology. Welcome!

2016
October 2016 - New paper on disentangling photochromism and electrochromism is published on Chemistry of Materials.

October 2016 - DMG welcomes our new graduate students Manuel N. Dominguez and Stephen L. Gibbs to the group!

September 2016 - Clay's new paper on VO2 phase transformations is published in Nano Letters. Team work with our undergraduate researcher Jacob, graduate students, and postdocs in the DMG.

August 2016 - DMG just published a new paper in Nature Materials describing how low-temperature solution processing can be used to create 'nanocrystal-in-glass' electrochromic films.

August 2016 - Read our new paper in collaboration with the Truskett group on the theory of linker gels.

May 2016 - Congratulations Amy on her publication in ACS Nano studying oxygen incorporation and release in bixbyite V2O3 nanocrystals!

May 2016 - In our latest publication, we investigate the role of shape and crystalline anisotropy on the plasmonic properties of cesium-doped tungsten oxide nanocrystals. The article was selected as an ACS Editor's Choice, and is published with open access!

May 2016 - Nature Communications just published Rob's study of single nanocrystal mid-infrared spectroscopy to probe heterogeneity in ensembles of plasmonic metal oxide nanocrystals. Congratulations Rob!

April 2016 - Evan's much-anticipated 'Cheetos' paper, investigating the high mobilities and defect properties of cerium-doped indium oxide, was just published in Nano Letters!

March 2016 - A new article by Yang, Evan and Delia was just published in Annual Reviews about the frontiers of smart window technology.

February 2016 - Delia was selected as a 2016 Sloan Research Fellow by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

February 2016 - DMG welcomes visiting researchers Anthony Maho, from the University of Liège, and Susanne Skjærvø, from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, to Austin! Susanne is exploring structural evolution of alkali niobates and Anthony is studying deposition methods for thin film electrochromic materials.

2015
December 2015 - Find the preliminary program for the 2016 GRC on Colloidal Semiconductor Nanocrystals here and the affiliated GRS here. See you there!

November 2015 - In a new paper we explain that nanocrystal-block copolymer assemblies follow thermodynamic and kinetic assembly principles on different length scales.

November 2015 - Delia joins the Nano Letters team as an Associate Editor!

October 2015 - Congratulations to group member Kristen Miller and her mentor Camila Saez for being awarded an Undergraduate Research Fellowship!

October 2015 - In Angewandte Chemie, we explain how to make nanocrystals form highly open networks, based on thermodynamics not kinetics. First fruits of a new collaboration with Truskett and Ellison in UT ChE!

October 2015 - A warm DMG welcome to Shin-Hum Cho and Lauren Gilbert! Lauren and Shin are both first-year graduate students in Texas ChemE, and you can find out more about our new members here.

October 2015 - Omid Zandi, the latest addition to the Milluminati, joined the group this week as a postdoc. Welcome Omid!

September 2015 - Welcome to our fall semester undergrad researchers!

July 2015 - Postdoc Jongwook Kim will join the faculty of École Polytechnique in January 2016. Congratulations Prof. Kim!

July 2015 - Our latest publication describes how controlling architecture of a nanocomposite can enable rapid, high contrast modulation of solar near infrared and visible light.

July 2015 - Congratulations to Ankit for passing his prelim exam!

July 2015 - The Milliron group's latest article was just published in JACS! The study investigates dual-mode electrochromism in doped titania nanocrystals. Check it out!

July 2015 - Delia is recognized with a Resonate Award from Caltech's Resnick Institute!

July 2015 - Congratulations to Milluminati postdoc Jongwook Kim on his selection for the prestigious Distinguished Young Scholars' Seminar series at University of Washington Chemical Engineering. This program highlights the most exciting emerging faculty candidates.

May 2015 - Check out our new paper collaborating with the Helms group to show how plasmonic oxide nanocrystals can optically detect redox events in (bio)chemical environments.

May 2015 - Our new JACS Communication explores how two dopants collude to induce dimerization of CIGS nanorods.

April 2015 - Delia has been selected as one of 16 professors across the U.S. to be a member of the 2016-2017 Defense Science Study Group.

April 2015 - More good news for the Milliron Group - Gary Ong just passed his qualifying exam in Materials Science at Berkeley. Great work Gary!

April 2015 - Camila is awarded a scholarship by the Pan American Round Table/Organization of American States. Congratulations!

April 2015 - Gabriel has accepted a faculty position at the University of Tulsa. Congratulations Prof. LeBlanc!

March 2015 - Welcome prospective UT students! Please visit us at NHB 6.350 to tour the lab and meet the group, or contact Delia with any questions. Enjoy the visit!

February 2015 - Congratulations to Clay on passing his prelim exam in the Chemical Engineering Department!

2014
December 2014 - In a new JACS paper we collaborated with the Gamelin group to explore the relationship between photodoping and aliovalent doping of Sn-In2O3 (ITO) nanocrystals.

September 2014 - Congratulations to Rob on being awarded an ALS Doctoral Fellowship in Residence for his work on spectroscopy of plasmonic metal oxide nanocrystals.

August 2014 - Congrats to Amy on an NSF GROW Fellowship! NSF and the Research Council of Norway will support Amy's extended research visit to Norway in 2015.

August 2014 - Congrats to Dr. Lounis! Sebastien has graduated with his PhD in Applied Science and Technology from UC Berkeley.

July 2014 - Delia provides commentary in Nature Materials on the latest advances in nanocrystal solar cells.

July 2014 - Welcome to the newest addition to the Milliron group, Yang Wang, who has joined the group as a postdoc.

July 2014 - We've published a paper together with the Neaton group that explores how molecular adsorbates strongly tune surface potential in vacuum as well as electrolyte.

June 2014 - A new review of nanostructured smart window materials was just published, congratulations Evan, Anna, Sebastien and Delia! Read here to learn more about recent progress in nanocrystal electrochromism.

May 2014 - The Milliron Group welcomes Amita Joshi, who will be joining the group as a postdoc. Welcome!

April 2014 - A new article was published in JACS, reporting on the inhomogeneous distribution of tin dopants within ITO nanocrystals, and the corresponding effects on plasmonic properties.

April 2014 - A review article discussing the role of doping in plasmonic nanocrystals has been published in J Phys Chem Lett. Great work Sebastien, Evan, Anna and Delia!

April 2014 - The Milliron group is grateful to the Welch Foundation for supporting our research to understand plasmons in metal oxide nanocrystals with a new grant.

March 2014 - Congrats to Evie, who has accepted a Senior Chemist position with Heliotrope, and to Renjia who is now a Process Integration Engineer at Linea!

March 2014 - Two new collaborative papers are published! We collaborated with Brett Helms' group to study the influence of surface chemistry on transport through PbSe nanocrystal networks [paper] and with several staff at the Foundry to establish design rules for single nanocrystal upconverting probes [paper].

March 2014 - Join Delia (vice chair) and Milliron group members at the Gordon Research Conference on Colloidal Semiconductor Nanocrystals this July 20-25!

February 2014 - Two new exciting papers from the Milliron group were accepted earlier this year! The group’s first exploration of a full electrochromic device, studying mesoscale transport properties, was published in January. Also, a new paper this past month introduces a novel colloidal synthesis of doped tungsten bronze nanocrystals that show highly shape-dependent surface plasmon resonance properties.

February 2014 - Ankit and Ye have passed their qualifying exams in chemical engineering at UT Austin. Congrats, Ye and Ankit!

January 2014 - Amy has passed her qualifying exam in the material science and engineering. Congrats, Amy!

2013
November 2013 - Rob has passed his qualifying exam in physical chemistry. Congrats, Rob!

November 2013 - Ankit Agrawal and Ye Yuan have joined the group. Both are 1st year PhD students in chemical engineering at UT Austin. Welcome, Ankit and Ye!

October 2013 - Jessy has accepted a research position at PARC starting January, 2014. Congrats, Jessy!

August 2013 - The Milliron group will be moving to UT-Austin in 2014! Delia will be joining the McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering as an associate professor. Read more here.

August 2013 - Published today in Nature, the Milliron Group’s latest work demonstrates a nanocrystal-in-glass composite material capable of dual-band near-infrared and visible electrochromic switching.

August 2013 - In a new paper, we report a colloidal synthesis of niobium doped titanium dioxide nanocrystals with tunable broadband light-absorption from the visible to the mid-infrared.

July 2013 - The Milliron Group’s ‘Universal Smart Window’ has been honored with an R&D 100 Award by R&D Magazine.

July 2013 - Aaron has been accepted to UC Berkeley in the College of Chemistry. Congratulations, Aaron!

May 2013 - Evan has passed his qualifying exam in Materials Sciene and Engineering. Congratulations, Evan!

May 2013 - In a new paper, our group has demonstrated the assembly and cation exchange of mesoporous metal chalcogenide architechtures based on colloidal nanocrystals.

April 2013 - Raffaella and Delia have authored a review of doping in colloidal nanocrystals and Delia is a guest editor for an upcoming special issue of Chemistry of Materials covering synthetic and mechanistic advances in nanocrystal growth.

April 2013 - Ajay Singh and Rejia Zhou have joined the group as postdocs.  Welcome, Ajay and Renjia!

April 2013 - Gary has been awarded a graduate fellowship from the National Science Foundation (NSF). Congratulations, Gary!

April 2013 - Anna and Evie have been promoted to Project Scientists at the Foundry.  Congrats!

March 2013 - The Milliron Group welcomes its newest member, Finley Byrd Rivest, born 5:14pm, December 13th, 2012. Congratulations to Jessy and Chris on the new, and adorable, addition to their family!

February 2013 - Clay and Gary both passed their prelims with flying colors. Congrats, Clay and Gary!

February 2013 -We have published a new demonstration of indium tin oxide (ITO) and aluminum zinc oxide (AZO) nanocrystal films as near-infrared selective electrochromic window coatings, as well as a new regional energy analysis for their performance.

2012
December 2012 - The Milliron group is leading a newly awarded project funded by the Advanced Projects Research Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) to develop spectrally-selective electrochromic windows. Read the LBL press release here.

December 2012 - The Milliron group is a partner in the newly announced Joint Center for Energy Storage Research (JCESR), a multi-state DOE research hub focused on developing transformative new battery technology.

December 2012 - Milliron group spin-off company, Heliotrope Technologies, wins first place in the Saint-Gobain Innovation Competition.  Congratulations to Memo and the rest of the Heliotrope team!

December 2012 - Sebastien has passed his qualifying exam in UC Berkeley AS&T.  Congrats!

November 2012 -   The Milliron Group is looking for postdocs! If interested, please contact Delia directly at dmilliron[aT]lbl.gov. Formal job posting to follow soon.

November 2012 -   First year Ph.D. students Clay Dahlman, Rob Johns, Gary Ong, and Yingbo Zhao, and postdoc Evelyn Rosen have joined the group. Welcome! 

July 2012 -   A new paper published by our group in Nano Letters demonstrates the controlled assembly of ordered mesoporous materials.  Using a combination of nanocrystals and block copolymers we are able to independently control pore size and shape in a variety of mesoporous material architectures. 

July 2012 -   In a new collaboration with the Granqvist Group at Uppsala University, we show high luminous transmittance and near-infrared absorption in a new polymer electrolyte containing ITO nanocrystals.  Check out the paper in Applied Physics Letters!

June 2012 -   In a recent paper published in the Journal of Physical Chemistry C, we employ effective medium theory calculations to understand the effect of inhomogeneities within nanocrystal ensembles and capping ligand shells on the optical properties of colloidal nanocrystals. Using these calculations we are able to reliably extract structural and electronic information from optical absorption spectra.

June 2012 -  The Institute of Physics (IOP) has included our paper on the growth of high mobility aluminum zinc oxide (AZO) using cathodic arc deposition in its 2011 Highlights for the Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics.  The paper was selected because it presented outstanding research, received excellent ratings from referees and generated high interest among the journal's readers.

May 2012 -   Memo has graduated with his PhD. Congratulations, Memo!

April 2012 -   We have published a paper on the extraction of important physical parameters by careful modeling of optical data measured on thin films and nanocrystals of ITO.

April 2012 -   In a new paper, we demonstrate a controlled synthesis method for bright upconverting lanthanide-doped nanocrystals.

April 2012 -   Luca De Trizio has joined the group as a guest researcher. Welcome, Luca!

April 2012 -   Raffaella has accepted a position as a Project Scientist at the Molecular Foundry. Congratulations, Raffa!

February 2012 -   Delia has been awarded an LBL Innovation Grant for the group's work on electrochromic windows. The award funds inventions showing strong commercial promise, yet needing specific development to demonstrate competitive value.

February 2012 -   Sebastien Lounis has joined the group as a graduate student. Welcome, Sebastien!

2011
December 2011 -   In a new paper published in Advanced Materials, we explore the impact of nanostructuring on the ionic and electronic conductivity of silver-conducting metal chalcogenides.

December 2011 -  Milliron group research on dynamic windows is featured in a new video by the University of California.   Watch it here!

November 2011 -   Local public radio station KQED features our collaborative project on energy efficient window coatings.  The story was also broadcast nationally on NPR's "All Things Considered." Listen here!

October 2011 - We have a new paper describing chemical strategies to control doping of aluminum-doped zinc oxide nanocrystals. These have a plasmon response in the infrared, which is tunable by adjusting the doping level. Check it out in Nano Letters

September 2011 - Our recent work on metal oxide nanoplasmonics was highlighted by an LBL press release and is catching the eye of various tech-related media outlets.

August 2011
- The group has published a paper describing an unprecedented range of dynamic plasmon modulation accomplished through reversible electrochemical doping of ITO nanocrystal films. We’re excited about the prospects of this phenomenon for a new generation of electrochromic “smart” windows.

July 2011
- The Department of Energy has awarded the Foundry funds to build a new nanocrystal synthesis robot with end-to-end process automation. This robot will complement our existing robot, WANDA and keep the Foundry at the leading edge of combinatorial nanoscience.

May 2011 - Anna and Raffaella have published a comprehensive paper describing two new methods for preparing metal oxide nanocomposites, using polyoxometalate clusters and nanocrystals as building blocks.

April 2011
- The Department of Energy announced $25M in funding for the Bay Area Photovoltaics Consortium (BAPVC). Stay tuned for related Milliron Group activities.

April 2011
- Robert and Marissa have published a paper (in press) with collaborators from Philip Wong’s group describing the phase change properties of solution processed SnSe2.

2010
December 2010 - Marissa and former intern Ben Haynor have published a paper about the extreme heating that can take place in an electron microscope and the material fragmentation process that can result.

November 2010 - Our research paper on reactive ligand exchange at nanocrystal surfaces is published in ChemComm. Congratulations to Marissa and former intern Seth Levy. This will appear in print next year in a special issue featuring Emerging Investigators.

September 2010
- Postdoc April Sawvel has joined the group. Welcome April!

June 2010
- Postdoc Gang Han accepts an assistant faculty position at University of Massachusetts to start Fall 2010. Congrats to Gang!

June 2010 - Anna Llordes joins the group as a postdoc. Welcome Anna!

April 2010 - Research paper about our robot, WANDA, published in Nano Letters.

March 2010 - Research paper about our new approach to nanocomposites published in Angewandte Chemie.

January 2010 - Group leader Delia Milliron awarded DOE Early Career Research Program grant.