Marcus D. Lay Assistant Professor Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Engineering, and Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center

Professor Lay received his Ph.D. from the University of Georgia in 2003. He was a National Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington D.C. from 2003 to 2004 and a Postdoctoral Research Scientist at Columbia University from 2004 to 2005, before joining the faculty at the University of Georgia in 2005.

Notables

National Research Council (NRC) Postdoctoral Fellow 2005

University of Georgia Research Foundation Grant 2007

Faculty Science Coordinator, LSAMP

Recent “Highlight” article and journal cover art from the Lay Research Group.

Group Lunch, August 2007

Group Lunch, April 2007

L-R: L. Dave Lipscomb, Karen Kenner, Pornnipa Vichchulada, Qinghui (Terry) Zhang, Tasaday Lynch, Jihye Shim, Egal Abdi and Marcus Lay

Current Research

Nanotechnology research, which involves the manipulation and observation of matter on an atomic and molecular scale, is a fascinating field of study. The Lay research group is largely concerned with the development of novel nano-scale electronic and photonic materials.  Such low-dimensional systems have applications in organic/inorganic electronics, sensing and bio-nanotechnology. One focus of this group is the use of aligned liquid-deposited single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs), and 2-dimensional networks of randomly oriented SWNTs for electronic devices, including transparent transistors and sensors. These networks are compatible with a wide variety of substrates due to the fact that they can be easily formed at room-temperature.

Though engineers continue to shrink the dimensions of silicon-based transistors, there is an ultimate limit to how small such devices can get. Aligned carbon nanotubes, and 2-dimensional networks of carbon nanotubes show promise as a new type of electronic switch capable of replacing those in electronic devices like flat panel displays and novel lightweight displays. Additionally, room temperature deposition allows use of heat-sensitive substrates like glass and plastics. Therefore, this work has wide reaching implications in device fabrication.

Thinking about Graduate School?

The University of Georgia has world-class expertise and facilities in all of the traditional chemistry disciplines. Further, we conduct cutting edge interdisciplinary research through the Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center. For information about applying to the graduate program at UGA, click here.

Questions/comments about this webpage? Contact Pornnipa at pv7138@uga.edu