Z-FAN'S GROUP @ ASU
RESEARCH & DISCOVERIES
Current Areas of Study
PHASE CHANGE
MATERIALS
Phase change materials (PCMs), including VO2, NbO2, and GST (GeSbTe), exhibit insulator-metal transition (IMT) phenomena, accompanied by dramatic dielectric and optical property changes. For some PCMs, their IMT is caused by the crystal structure change, while for others, strong electron-electron interaction plays a vital role. Studying their material physics and exploring their exotic properties for novel electronic and photonic devices are our interests.
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Thin films synthesis via sputtering deposition and material characterization
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Phase change study and electrical/optical properties
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Tunable photonic/THz devices for modulation and beam phase control
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Dynamic learning and memory functions for neuromorphic devices, including artificial neurons and synaptic devices.
NEUROMORPHIC COMPUTATION
Neuromorphic computation, with a network of dense artificial neurons connected by more dense artificial synapses, is to emulate the biological brain for efficient data processing with massive parallelism and low-power dissipation. The brain uses analog changes in neural connection strength (i.e., synaptic weight) to carry out cognition, learning, inference, and decision-making with vast high energy efficiency. Synapse plasticity, the inelastic changes of synaptic weights, constitutes the basis of short- or long-term memory, while these changes are induced by neural spiking activities in a learning/adapting process. The hardware implementation of neuromorphic computation requires novel devices serving the roles of artificial synapses and/or neurons. Our research concerns:
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Volatile phase transition-based artificial neurons
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Nonvolatile phase change-based synaptic devices
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Li-ion electrochemical FET-based synaptic devices
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VO2 nano-oscillators as neuromorphic devices
Ultrafast Supercap
Ultrafast Supercap is to bridge the performance gap, in terms of response frequency and capacitance density, between conventional supercapacitors and aluminum electrolytic capacitors (AECs), aiming for:
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Supporting peak-power loading, from bursting communication to high pulse power generation
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Miniaturized ripple filtering capacitors (HF-ECs)
Battery Technology
Our main efforts consist of:
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Catalysts, particularly single-atom catalysts for the sulfur cathode in Li-S batteries
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Carbon nanostructured materials, particularly carbon aerogel for the sulfur cathode
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Biomaterials-based separators