The April NDnano networking lunch meeting featured updates on potential funding opportunities in semiconductors and microelectronics, and a presentation on a previously awarded NDnano Seed Grant.  

NDnano’s associate director Derek Lake and director Alan Seabaugh, professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering, discussed potential semiconductor funding that is being debated in Congress as well as recent NDnano-led responses to Department of Commerce and Department of Defense “Requests for Information.” Additionally, Professor Seabaugh reviewed the connections Notre Dame is building within the region to collaborate on future funding opportunities, and Notre Dame’s involvement with the American Semiconductor Academy Initiative.  

The remainder of the meeting featured a presentation on an NDnano-funded seed grant project. Svetlana Neretina, professor in the Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, and Gregory Hartland, professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, reviewed their project, “Harvesting Hot Electrons for Plasmonic Photochemistry and Photovoltaics.” The aim of the project was to discover how to effectively use “hot electrons” before their energy is transformed into heat. Hot electrons, ideal for catalyzing chemical reactions and for energy conversion within photovoltaics, are created when certain metals reduced to the nanoscale focus light energy into small volumes and subsequently impart this energy to the electrons within the metal.

In mid-2021, Professor Neretina was awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation, “Tailoring the Nanophotonic and Nanoelectronic Properties of Nanometals using Oxide-Directed Syntheses,” to continue related research.

NDnano sponsors monthly networking meetings year-round to provide a forum for faculty and staff to discuss recent research, probe new ideas, and connect with new collaborators. Visit the NDnano Events page to learn about future networking sessions, or contact Heidi Deethardt to receive meeting invitations.