Research Description
General
Research activities in the Moore research lab lie in the areas of synthetic inorganic chemistry, materials chemistry, materials science, and nanomaterials. The research efforts in Dr. Moore's lab center on the synthesis of novel inorganic materials at both the macro-/meso- and nano-scales. Fundamental themes present in this research effort is the use of chemically "soft" methods (i.e. solution based, room temperature or low temperature routes) for material preparation and the use of designed, single-source or dual-source molecular precursors used to control the elemental composition of the final material. Areas are of current interest include:
1. Ceramic Nanocomposite Materials
Sol-gel chemistry is a facile, solution-based method for the preparation of metal oxide materials, and composite materials thereof. Research in this are focuses on the covalent incorporation of nanocrystal precursors into a ceramic, sol-gel matrix. Thermal treatment of these intermediate precursor/ceramic composites yields nanocomposites consisting of nanocrystals of a desired material widely dispersed throughout a ceramic host matrix.
2. Metal Sulfides
Metal sulfides are a technologically important class of materials with applications ranging from light harvesting components in solar cells to catalysis to solid-state lubrication. Research in this area will probe new methods for the room temperature or low temperature preparation of various metal sulfide powders and nanocrystals, including pH dependant decomposition of molecular precursors and "thio" sol-gel reactions.