Lee received the 2025 UConn Research Excellence Award with Prof. Mark Aindow ($50,000)! This research will focus on the nanomechanical and microstructural characterization of nanoporous amorphous carbon materials with the lightweight, high strength, and high ductility. Our initial work was published at Nature Communications in 2024 and studied the unimodal pore structures. Materials are fabricated by Prof. James Watkins group at UMass Amherst.
- Zhongyuan Li, Ayush Bhardwaj, Jinlong He, Wenxin Zhang, Thomas T. Tran, Ying Li, Andrew McClung, Sravya Nuguri, James J. Watkins, Seok-Woo Lee, “Nanoporous amorphous carbon nanopillars with lightweight, near-theoretical strength, large fracture strain, and high damping capability,” Nature Communications 15, 8151 (2024) [PDF.pdf][web]
This new project will focus on the influence of various pore distribution (size and number) on mechanical properties. Also, this work will include the fabrication and characterization of bulk-scale nanoporous amorphous carbon materials. This work will enable us to create a new class of structural materials.