BATTEAS RESEARCH GROUP
Welcome to our lab—take a tour with the video below:
The research in our group is organized around the following three main projects:
1) Nanoscale Materials and Devices--with a focus on designing materials from the molecular level on up for novel electronics and energy storage systems.
2) Nanotribology--seeking to understand the atomic scale origins of friction, and to utilize this to control friction across scales, from micro-devices to machined interfaces, for robotics, and even up to the role of friction, and the chemical reactions that control them, in earthquakes.
3) Mechanochemistry--where the application of precise mechanical forces to molecules can be used to drive chemical reactions in dry solids, leading to more energy efficient, safer, and more selective and sustainable approaches to chemical synthesis.
An example of selective micro-patterning using bias oxidation with an Atomic Force Microscope
Studying the tunable mechanical and physical properties of stimulus responsive polymer grafts
Molecular Dynamics Simulation of SAMs in Asperity Contacts
Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (STM) image of two porphyrin molecules inserted into a background of dodecanethiol molecules to study conductance
Group News
2023
- Congratulations to Joshua Melendez-Rivera who received a Department of Energy Computational Science Graduate Fellowship (DOE CSGF). For details about this award, see link to the press release.
2021
- Dr. James Batteas has been named a Regents Professor by The Board of Regents for the Texas A&M University System. The Board of Regents of The Texas A&M University System honors individuals at the rank of professor or equivalent whose distinguished performance in teaching, research, and service has been exemplary. The award is the highest honor bestowed by the Texas A&M System on faculty members. The performance of those selected is considered commendable and worthy of recognition for their impact not only on their institution or agency, but also the community, the state of Texas, and/or at the national and international levels.
- Quentarius Moore received a Department of Energy Computational Science Graduate Fellowship (DOE CSGF), and has been highlighted by Dexis magazine--see link to cover. (Learn More)
- The NSF CMCC has launched its Google Arts & Culture inaugural exhibit on the history of mechanochemistry, with more to come! For details, visit their website.
- Dr. Batteas is now Chair-Elect of the Colloid and Surface Chemistry Division of the American Chemical Society. Please visit website.
2020
- Dr. Batteas and a multi-institution team of scientists have been awarded a $1.8 million grant to establish the NSF Center for the Mechanical Control of Chemistry (CMCC), one of three new Phase I Centers for Chemical Innovation (CCI) funded through the National Science Foundation Division of Chemistry. For details, please visit the CMCC website.
- Congrats to former student Dr. Meagan Elinski who has been appointed Assistant Professor at Hope College beginning in Fall 2020.
- Nathaniel Hawthorne has been selected for a TAMU Public Policy Internship! Whoop! Congrats Nate!
2019
- Dr. Batteas has been named Inaugural Holder of Wayne Goodman Professorship.