Faculty Directory

Alec Talin is a Distinguished Member of Technical Staff in the Materials Physics Department at Sandia National Laboratories and an Adjunct Associate Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Maryland, College Park. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and a member of Science Board of Reviewing Editors. Alec earned a BA degree in Chemistry from UC San Diego in 1989 and a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from UC Los Angeles in 1995. Prior to joining Sandia in 2002, he spent 6 years as a research scientist and manager at Motorola Labs in Phoenix, AZ, and 3 years (2009-12) as a project leader at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg, MD.  His seminal scientific achievements include first demonstration of high efficiency Si metal-insulator-semiconductor photocathodes with spillover-assisted evolution of hydrogen, first demonstration of guest-induced electronic conductivity in metal-organic frameworks, and first demonstration of tuning of electronic conductivity of metal oxides and polymers through electrochemical ion insertion for achieving high efficiency analog switches for artificial neural networks.

1. Nanoionics and nanoelectronics for emerging computing and memory

2. Solid state energy storage

3. Photocatalytic and photoelectrocatalytic process for solar fuels

4. Coordination polymers and metal organic frameworks for emerging electronics and energy applications

1. Microelectronic co-design for neuromorphic computing (DoE BES/ASCR)

2. Reconfigurable electronic materials inspired by nonlinear neuron dynamics (REMIND) EFRC (DoE/BES)

3. Thin film platforms to advance scientific frontiers in solid state energy storage (DoE/BES)

4. Ensembles of photocatalytic nanoreactors (EPN) EFRC (DoE/BES).

For a full list please see my google scholar page:  https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=1l-fEDkAAAAJ&hl=en

Neuromorphic Computing

• E. J. Fuller “Li-ion synaptic transistor for low power analog computing”, Advanced Materials 29, 1604310 (2017).
• Y. B. van de Burgt et al., “An organic artificial synapse for low energy neuromorphic computing”, Nature Materials 16, 414 (2017)
• E. J. Fuller et al., “Parallel programming of an ionic floating-gate memory array for scalable neuromorphic computing”, Science 364, 570, (2019).
• Y. Li et al., “Filament-free bulk resistive memory enables deterministic analogue switching”, Adv. Materials 32, 2070339, (2020).

Energy storage and conversion

• E. J. Fuller et al., “Spatially resolved potential and Li-ion distributions reveal performance-limiting regions in solid-state batteries”, ACS Energy Lett., 6, 3944, 2021.
• D. S. Ashby et al., “Modifying Ionogel Solid-Electrolytes for Complex Electrochemical Systems” ACS Appl. Mat. Interfaces, doi.org/10.1021/acsaem.2c02085.
• D. S. Ashby et al, “Understanding the Electrochemical Performance of FeS₂ Conversion Cathodes”, ACS Appl. Mat. Interfaces, doi.org/10.1021/acsami.2c01021.
• D. V. Esposito, et al., “Hydrogen Evolution at Si based Metal-Insulator-Semiconductor Photoelectrodes Enhanced by Inversion Channel Charge Collection and Hydrogen Spillover”, Nature Materials 12, 562 (2013).

MOFs and coordination polymers for electronic, photonic and thermoelectric applications

• A. A. Talin, et al., “Tunable Electrical Conductivity in Metal-Organic Framework Thin Film Devices”, Science 343, 66 (2014).
• V. Stavila, et al., “MOF-based electronic and optoelectronic devices”, Chem. Soc. Reviews 43, 5994 (2014).
• K. J. Erickson, et al., “Thin Film Thermoelectric Metal–Organic Framework with High Seebeck Coefficient and Low Thermal Conductivity”, Adv. Mat. 27, 3453 (2015).

Contacts, interfaces and transport in nanostructures

• F. Leonard and A. A. Talin, “Size-dependent effects on electrical contacts to nanotubes and nanowires”, Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 026804 (2006).
• A. A. Talin et al., “Unusually strong space-charge-limited currents in thin wires”, Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 076802 (2008).
• F. Leonard and A. A. Talin, “Electrical contacts to one- and two- dimensional nanomaterials”, Nature Nanotech. 6, 773, (2011)