Booyeon Han ’13

Major

Chemistry

Project Title

Piezoelectric Nanoribbon Assemblies Printed onto Rubber for Highly Efficient, Flexible Energy Harvesting

My summer research project focused on the exploration of more efficient and environmentally friendly methods for the synthesis of piezoelectric nanowires. These nanowires have many applications, including but not limited to electronics, sensing, energy conversion, and cellular biology. I honed in on the success of piezoelectric nanowires with various biotemplates. Future work will be directed to the possibilities of using microfluidic devices for the controlled synthesis of these nanowires with the biotemplates: alginate, phage, and peptides. In addition, the properties of lead zirconate titanate (PZT) nanowire films will be explored. The project that I started in the McAlpine Research Group has opened more options in the field of academics for me. I am now very seriously considering the possibilities of research at the graduate school level. My full experience and immersion in the laboratory setting was very helpful in guiding my values and thoughts on research that can be accomplished for the advancement of knowledge and technology – not just for academics but also for practical applications like energy harvesting.



Internship Year

2012

Project Category

Climate and Energy

Organization(s)

Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey

Mentor(s)

Michael McAlpine, Assistant Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering