University of Texas Faculty
| Xiaoyang Zhu, Professor of Chemistry |
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William H. Wade Professor Biographical SketchXiaoyang Zhu is the Louis Nicolas Vauquelin Regents Professor of Chemistry at the University of Texas - Austin. He received a BS degree in Chemistry from Fudan University in 1984 and a PhD degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 1989. After postdoctoral research with Prof. Mike White at UT-Austin and Prof. Gerhard Ertl at the Fritz-Haber-Institute in Berlin, he joined the faculty at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry in 1993. In 1997, he moved to the University of Minnesota, first as an Associate Professor, then Full Professor, and Merck Endowed Professor of Chemistry. Zhu is the author/coauthor of ~150 peer reviewed publications and 3 patents. Zhu has been recognized by several professional awards, including a Camille and Henry Dreyfus New Faculty Award, a Cottrell Scholar Award, and a Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Award. Among his professional services, Zhu serves as an editor for Progress in Surface Science. Zhu directs and conducts research in interfacial science, with a particular emphasis on charge separation, electron transfer, and solar energy conversion. Research InterestsExciton dissociation and solar energy One of the key questions we are focusing on is at the heart of future photovoltaic technology: How can one extract electrons and holes from photo-generated excitons in organic semiconductors or inorganic quantum dots? To answer this question, we use model interfaces for organic and quantum dot solar cells and state-of-the-art laser spectroscopic techniques, including femtosecond time-resolved two-photon photoemission spectroscopy (2PPE) and time-resolved second harmonic generation (SHG). As examples, recent discoveries in our lab showed for the first time how an electron and a hole is bound by the Coulomb potential across an organic semiconductor interface and how one can extract hot electrons from a photoexcited PdSe quantum dot. Charge transport and organic electronics Charge carrier generation and transport are central to the operation of all organic electronic and optoelectronic devices, such as organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), field effect transistors (OFETs), and photovoltaic cells (OPVs). A fundamental distinction from their inorganic counter parts is the localized nature of charge carriers in organic semiconductors. We apply in situ optical spectroscopy to directly “see” inside operating devices. This spectroscopic approach allows us to quantitatively establish the nature of charge carriers in organic and polymeric semiconductors. Recent highlights include quantitatively distinguishing electrostatic from electrochemical doping mechanisms in polymer electrolyte gated OFETs and understanding the role of interfacial electric fields in bulk heterojunction OPVs. Selected Publications
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