So Lab

In honor of the nanometer scale (10^-9, or a billionth of a meter), the So Lab undergrad students capture a series of SEM images of nanostructures for National Nanotechnology Day (10/9). Enjoy!

1. Mucor hyemalis - a fungus found in unspoiled food, the surface presents several functional groups useful as an inexpensive biotic substrate on its ~10,000 nm wide framework (PC: Angel Cash)

2. Carbon particles (CNPs) - formed from burning or overheating bread, CNPs are roughly 2000-4000 nm in diameter and are electrically conductive. (PC: Preston Lawson)

3. Silver nanowires (AgNW) - these 150 nm diameter wires are transparent and can be used as electrodes on semitransparent devices! (PC: Julia Penick)

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After over a year of steadfast work and revisions during the pandemic, we finally published our findings in ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces! Congrats to So Lab alum, Sungwon Yoon, and many thanks to our collaborators at Sandia National Laboratories, Cambridge, Oxford, and University of Oregon! This work highlights how we can program nanosponges, called metal-organic frameworks, to be more efficient charge transport materials in electronic devices!

From n- to p-Type Material: Effect of Metal Ion on Charge Transport in Metal–Organic Materials An intriguing new class of two-dimensional (2D) materials based on metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) has recently been developed that displays electrical conductivity, a rarity among these nanoporous materials. The emergence of conducting MOFs raises questions about their fundamental electronic prop...

Well, this semester was full of ups and downs, but by far, one of the biggest ups was earning the Lantis Endowed University Chair! We couldn't have done this without the support of my mentors, collaborators, family, friends, students, and husband, Stewart He. Thank you, California State University, Chico for the continued support of So Lab's research and students on sustainability! 💧 https://www.csuchico.edu/nsci/announce/lantis-endowed-university-chair.shtml