Kwabena Bediako

Contact

Labs: 810, 802, 808, 812, 801, 811 Latimer Hall

Title: 
The Cupola Era Professor in the College of Chemistry
Department: 
Chemistry
Bio/CV: 
  • Assistant Professor (born 1986)
  • B.S. Calvin College, MI (2008)
  • M.S. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MA (2013)
  • Ph.D. Harvard University, MA (2015)
  • Postdoctoral Fellow, Harvard University, MA (2015–2018)
Research: 

Inorganic Materials Chemistry, Electrochemistry, Low-Dimensional Materials, Quantum Transport, Optoelectronics

Research efforts in the Bediako Group involve the mesoscopic investigation of interfacial charge transfer and charge transport in two-dimensional (2D) materials and heterostructures. We emphasize the design of materials with modular interfaces that can be controlled at atomically precise length scales to study and overcome contemporary challenges in electrochemical energy conversion and quantum electronics.

Our group synthesizes and isolates atomically thin inorganic crystals, deterministically assembles these 2D layers into novel multicomponent materials, and quantitatively interrogates the discrete architectures as constituents of electrochemical and electronic devices. To achieve our goals, we leverage solid-state and solution-phase methodologies, as well as chemical and electrochemical deposition techniques for materials synthesis. We use state-of-the-art micromanipulation and nanofabrication tools for the preparation of mesoscopic structures, and employ a range of optical spectroscopy, scanning-electrochemical, electron microscopy, and low-temperature quantum magnetotransport probes to measure the (electro)chemical and physical properties at individual devices.

Currently open research projects include mechanism-guided electrocatalyst discovery for fuel-forming and fuel-consuming reactions in electrolyzers and fuel cells; ion insertion and transport reactions of two-dimensional heterointerfaces for energy storage and to create novel quantum materials; and the electro-chemical control of light–matter interactions and topological phases in 2D semiconductors and semimetals.