Research Quick Takes

New publications from the Hautier Research Group include "First-principles study of intrinsic and hydrogen point defects in the earth-abundant photovoltaic absorber Zn₃P₂" published in Journal of Materials Chemistry A and authored by postdoc researchers Zhenkun Yuan and Yihuang Xiong, and Professor Geoffroy Hautier. Xiong and Hautier are also co-authors of "Strong electron-phonon coupling driven pseudogap modulation and density-wave fluctuations in a correlated polar metal" published in Nature Communications.

Dartmouth's Center for Imaging Medicine received two $60,000 grants for Prouty Pilot Research Projects: (1) Professors Petr Brůža and David Gladstone, along with PhD student Roman Vasyltsiv and co-PI Lesley Jarvis from the Dept of Radiation Oncology, will analyze Cherenkov light emissions to identify response variations between normal and abnormal tissue; and (2) researcher Arthur Petusseau Th'23 will work with Brůža and co-PI Shane Chapman from the Dept of Dermatology on an advanced imaging system for the early detection of malignant skin lesions, and for guided surgical resection of non-melanoma skin cancer.

PhD student Peiyu Wang, Professor Weiyang (Fiona) Li, and researchers from Stanford University are authors of "High-Performance Lithium−Sulfur Batteries via Molecular Complexation," published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. This study presents a new route to design and tailor liquid-sulfur-based cathodes with excellent solubilities of solid discharge products to greatly improve the reversibility, stability, cycling performance, and low-temperature capabilities of Li−S batteries.

PhD student Julia Huddy and Professor William Scheideler co-authored "Rapid 2D Patterning of High-Performance Perovskites Using Large Area Flexography" published in Advanced Functional Materials. The study leverages high-speed flexographic printing to deposit critical materials for perovskite solar cells over large areas, creating a scalable method for manufacturing and future commercialization.

PhD student Michele Maxson was invited to present her work with professor Fridon Shubitidze entitled, "Active Bucking Using a System On a Chip Field Programmable Gate Array for Geophysical Investigations" at the Near Surface Geoscience conference in Edinburgh, Scotland last week. The invitation came as part of a "best paper" award earlier this year at the 35th Symposium on the Application of Geophysics to Engineering and Environmental Problems in New Orleans.

PhD student Megan Clark won "best abstract" for her work to be presented at the Flash Radiotherapy and Particle Therapy (FRPT) conference this December in Toronto. Her work is titled, "High-speed Quantitative Imaging for Retrospective Quality Assurance FAST-01 Clinical Treatment Fields." This novel technology, developed at Dartmouth, can image scanning proton beams at up to 12 kHz and verify that therapeutic beams are delivered as planned.

Professor Wesley Marrero will co-lead a project funded by the American Medical Association's ChangeMedEd Innovation Grant Program, which adopts the holistic "Precision Well-Being" approach to create personalized wellness solutions for optimal learning and wellness in medical school. The team includes Thayer PhD student Zequn Chen, Geisel professors Thomas Thesen and Matthew Duncan, and LeChauncy Woodard at the University of Houston College of Medicine.

PhD candidate Xin Yue was featured on the (virtual) cover of Sensors in July for his work on a 20 million frames-per-second image sensor that can capture 108 sequential image frames over a period of 5.4 microseconds in burst mode. The sensor was designed and tested by Dartmouth for the Los Alamos National Laboratory for ultra-high-speed materials analysis. Yue, who recently completed his dissertation, is working for Apple in California.

PhD students Huan Zhao and Xiangbei Liu, and Professor Yan Li co-authored "The Role of Fracture Patterns on Crack-Based Strain Sensors" published in the Journal of Engineering Materials and Technology. Taking inspiration from the vibration detection mechanism employed by spiders, this computational study provides physical insights for the design and manufacturing of crack-based strain sensors across various applications.

PhD student Savannah Decker won 2nd place at the 2023 Early-Career Investigator Symposium of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine in Houston, TX. Her submission, "Expanding the inclusivity of Cherenkov surface dosimetry by quantifying the effects of skin tone in a multi-institutional human study," was one of 10 chosen from the hundreds submitted for oral presentation in the competition.

Postdoc Anand Tiwari, PhD students Shay McBride, Andrew Hamlin, Md Saifur Rahman, and Julia Huddy, and professors Geoffroy Hautier, and William Scheideler are co-authors of a study on designing 2D titanium carbide materials for hydrogen (H₂) production. Published in ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering, the study developed strategies to dope 2D MXenes with sulfur and nitrogen to engineer their activity as efficient—as well as low-cost and earth-abundant—electrocatalysts for large-scale H₂ production.

Professor Erin Mayfield is a co-author of "Emissions and energy impacts of the Inflation Reduction Act" published in Science. The paper leverages "results from nine independent, state-of-the-art models to examine potential implications of key IRA provisions, showing economy-wide emissions reductions between 43 and 48% below 2005 levels by 2035."