Rising Junior and undergraduate researcher, Alexandria Carter, received a Bronze Poster Prize at this year’s North American Solid-State Chemistry Conference (NASSCC). Her poster was, “The Effect of Ligand Exchange on the Structure and Properties of Ferroelectric Nanocrystals.” Carter’s research was conducted under the advising of Professor Kate Page in the Materials Science and Engineering department.
Her abstract was as follows:
“From finding the smallest impurity to creating an entirely different material, every scientific observation has something unique about it: that spark of uncertainty and newness. This very concept is one of familiarity throughout the process of attempting ligand exchange across the surface of nanoscale strontium titanate. The goal of this research is to utilize oleic acid in surface ligand exchange to enhance the ferroelectric properties of this material. Making these crystalline structures stable at room temperature would allow for their application in technological development, helping to break the plateau in the size of technology and dive deeper beyond micro-scale technology.”
The NASSCC emphasizes the importance of Solid State Chemistry as it is intimately connected to Materials Science. The conference takes place only once every two years and places a strong emphasis on oral presentations by students. Due to the state of the world, the conference was held virtually giving a unique perspective on how the conference would be run. Undergraduate and Junior graduate students were encouraged to submit posters in lieu of oral presentations.