We are proud to post that four recent Katz Group students completed thesis research and graduated between Spring 2020 and Winter 2021.
Hyun-June Jang received his Ph.D. in Spring, 2020. He pioneered several important sensing and electroanalytical techniques for the group, including the first coupling of organic field effect transistors to silicon transistors via a remote gate configuration and the detailed fundamental analysis of electric fields generated during sequential polymer film doping and polymer responses to pH changes in overlying solutions.
Nathaniel McKeever received his Masters Degree in Spring, 2020. He build and deployed the first series circuit containing two different vapor-sensitive polymer transistors, resulting in a new strategy for increasing the ratio of output signal from an analyte of interest relative to interferents in the environment. In addition, he received a degree in Jazz Trumpet Performance from the Peabody School of Music.
Qingyang Zhang received his Ph.D. in Summer, 2020. He investigated the capability of nonpolar polystyrenes to capture static charge when strong electron donors were attached to the polymers in different layers and/or as semiconductors on top, finding the limits to charge storage quantity when the donor is unusually strong, and showing that the charge storage modulates semiconductor charge density through both transistor switching and thermoelectric measurements.
Evan Plunkett, a joint student with the group of Professor Daniel Reich in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, received his Ph.D. in Winter, 2021. He discovered that very subtle changes in composition and configuration of nonpolar polystyrene dielectrics lead to profound changes in their charge storing behavior when functioning as organic transistor gate dielectrics, including the distinguishing of bulk and interfacial contributions to these effects, and structural analysis of the dielectrics using x-ray and neutron scattering.