Evolution of meniscus around a TMV virus on glass surface
Fractal dewetting of thin TPD film on Si substrate
Surface crystals on TPD glasses mediated by fast surface mobility
Various angle Ellipsometry measured 180 nm amorphous thin film; angular-dependent polarized photoluminescence setup in Dr. Kikkawa’s group at physics department
Nucleation of amyloid aggregates of a small fragment of Aβ.
Different resonant modes in a circularly arranged gold nanosphere structure resulting from plasmon coupling
Fakhraai Group
Our group is interested in studying the effect of nano-confinement and interfaces on the structure, thermodynamics, and physical properties of materials. Materials behave differently on surfaces, interfaces or small length scales compared to their bulk properties. Understanding such differences are crucial in many technological applications where materials are constrained in nanometer size spaces, such as coatings, organic electronics, polymer applications, and cosmetics. One can take advantage of such difference to produce novel materials, such as stable vapor-deposited glasses or flame-resistant polymer composites or harvest light for various applications. In biological systems, most of the dynamics happen in nanometer size proximity of surfaces and interfaces, and understanding the properties in confinement is a key in predicting function. We focus our efforts on understanding the origins of such modified properties on a fundamental with an eye on applications when we observe novel materials properties or develop new experimental tools.
Available positions:
Our research is multi-disciplinary. The diversity of the backgrounds of our group members enables us to solve problems at the boundary of multiple fields. We welcome students from diverse range of experiences, expertise, and backgrounds and strive to make our group a welcoming environment for all individuals, including students from underrepresented minority groups, LGBTQI individuals, FGLI students, as well as students with disabilities. We will do our best to accommodate you and collaborate with you.
Graduate and Undergraduate Students: Our group members have backgrounds in physical and inorganic chemistry, physics, material science, and chemical engineering. Graduate students are typically selected from the cohort of first-year Penn graduate students from various departments.
Undergraduate Student Fellowship Opportunities:
Center for Undergraduate Research & Fellowships (Penn students only)
Our Group’s Available Project at CURF (Penn students only)
Chemistry Department’s REU Program
Post-doctoral Fellowship Opportunities: Available postdoc positions will be posted.
Penn’s Postdoctoral Fellowship for Academic Diversity program (US citizens only)
PennPort Postdoctoral Fellowship
