Milliron, Delia Ph.D.

Department Chair
T. Brockett Hudson Professorship in Chemical Engineering

Office:  NHB 6.404 Mailing Address:
Phone: (512) 232-5702 The University of Texas at Austin
Fax: — McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering
Email: milliron@che.utexas.edu 200 E Dean Keeton St. Stop C0400
UT Mail: C0400 Austin, TX 78712-1589

Research Areas: Energy, Advanced Materials, Polymers & Nanotechnology

Research website

Research Presentation for Prospective Graduate Students

Educational Qualifications

Postdoctoral Researcher, IBM T. J. Watson Research Center (2004-2005)
Ph.D., Physical Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley (2004)
A.B., Chemistry and Materials Science and Engineering, Princeton University (1999)

Focus

Chemical synthesis and assembly of nanostructured electronic and electrochemical materials, processing-structure-property relationships, energy and electronic devices.

Research

Structuring materials on the nanoscale presents new opportunities to develop functionality not found in homogeneous, single-component materials. Energy devices, in particular, demand materials with complex combinations of properties that can also be processed at low cost and on large scale. Research in the Milliron group is motivated by new concepts for high performance electrochromic smart windows, batteries, and photovoltaic cells that take advantage of the unique optical, electronic, and processing characteristics of colloidal nanocrystals and other nanoscale building blocks.

To develop innovative energy materials and devices, we use solution-phase chemistry to create nanocrystals and inorganic clusters and to assemble these into mesoscale architectures. We are actively investigating the chemistry and physics of doped metal oxide nanocrystals with infrared plasmonic resonances and high electronic conductivities. Anionic metal chalcogenide and metal oxo clusters are another class of building units we employ to construct multi-component inorganic composites, mesoporous networks, and hybrid mesostructures. Transport of electrons and ions through these materials is found to be strongly influenced by the ubiquitous heterogeneous interfaces. The atomic and nanoscale structure responsible for these transport phenomena are probed by a combination of electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction, and optical and x-ray spectroscopies under both static and in situ conditions, illuminating new design strategies for functional materials and devices. Ultimately, we apply these lessons to create novel solutions to cost and performance challenges critical to realizing next generation energy technologies.

Awards & Honors

Defense Science Study Group member (2016-2017)
Caltech Resnick Institute Resonate Award (2015)
DOE Early Career Research Program Award (2010-2015)
R&D 100 Award – Universal Smart Windows (2013)
Mohr Davidow Ventures Innovators Award (2010)
R&D 100 Award – Nanocrystal Solar Cells (2009)

Selected Publications

  •  J Kim, GK Ong, Y Wang, G LeBlanc, TE Williams, TM Mattox, BA Helms, DJ Milliron, “Nanocomposite Architecture for Rapid, Spectrally-Selective Electrochromic Modulation of Solar Transmittance,” Nano Lett. 15 (2015), 5574-5579.
  • CJ Dahlman, Y Tan, MA Marcus, DJ Milliron, “Spectroelectrochemical Signatures of Capacitive Charging and Ion Insertion in Doped Anatase Titania Nanocrystals,” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 137 (2015), 9160-9166.
  • A Singh, A Singh, J Ciston, K Bustillo, D Nordlund, DJ Milliron, “Synergistic Role of Dopants on the Morphology of Alloyed Copper Chalcogenide Nanocrystals,” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 137 (2015), 6464-6467.
  • SD Lounis, EL Runnerstrom, A Bergerud, D Nordlund, DJ Milliron, “Influence of dopant distribution on the plasmonic properties of indium tin oxide nanocrystals,” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 136 (2014), 7110.
  • DJ Milliron, R Buonsanti, A Llordes, BA Helms, “Constructing functional mesostructured materials from colloidal nanocrystal building blocks,” Acc. Chem. Res. 47 (2014), 236.
  • A Llordes, G Garcia, J Gazquez, DJ Milliron, “Tunable near-infrared and visible light transmittance in nanocrystal-in-glass composites,” Nature 500 (2013), 323.
  • R Buonsanti, TE Pick, N Krins, TJ Richardson, BA Helms, DJ Milliron, “Assembly of ligand-stripped nanocrystals into precisely controlled mesoporous architectures,” Nano Lett. 12 (2012), 3872.
  • RY Wang, R Tangirala, S Raoux, JL Jordan-Sweet, DJ Milliron, “Ionic and electronic transport in Ag2S nanocrystal – GeS2 matrix composites with size-controlled Ag2S nanocrystals,” Adv. Mater. 24 (2012), 99.
  • G Garcia, R Buonsanti, EL Runnerstrom, RJ Mendelsberg, A Llordes, A Anders, TJ Richardson, DJ Milliron, “Dynamically modulating the surface plasmon resonance of doped semiconductor nanocrystals,” Nano Lett. 11 (2011), 4415.
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