COSAM News Articles 2020 May NSF CAREER Award Creates Novel Class of Super-Atoms to Power New Batteries and Electronics

NSF CAREER Award Creates Novel Class of Super-Atoms to Power New Batteries and Electronics

Published: 04/30/2020

Evangelos Miliordos is investigating new materials that can help power tomorrow’s consumer electronics.

Miliordos, an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, focuses his research in computational chemistry through the Miliordos Research Group. He has received a $558,375 NSF CAREER award to develop calculations that can lead to a novel class of super-atoms with real-world applications of batteries, solar cells, catalysis and quantum computing.

Over the next five years, his work will apply the principles of quantum mechanics to understand the theoretical properties of metals and ammonia.

“I am trying to create an exciting new material formed through metal atoms dissolved in liquid ammonia,” explained Miliordos. “The metal atom and the ammonia molecules form a combined structure where the molecules act like a single, super-sized atom.”

His work has an outreach component to teach high school students more about these chemical concepts, properties and structures.

“My project will focus on the performance of high-level electronic structure calculations of the transition metals with a number of ammonia, amine, polyamine or other ligand,” he added. “It will give me an opportunity to explore new types of chemical bonds and study materials that can facilitate chemical reactions pertaining to catalysis and can be used in quantum computing.”

This NSF CAREER award is funded by the Chemical Structure Dynamics and Mechanisms (CSDM-A) program of the Chemistry Division.