Prof.
Kwon, Yong Seung
The Department of Physics and Chemistry deals with convergence sciences, harmonizing the basic sciences, investigating the basic characteristics of matter through chemistry and physics, with applied sciences. Our academics are oriented toward cutting-edge convergence science encompassing physics, chemistry, biology and material sciences, and students explore new materials, biomaterials, nano materials, functional materials, flexible materials and other core areas important to progress in state-of-the-art sciences and industry.
Graduates holding advanced degrees from the Department of Physics and Chemistry may become professors or researchers at universities in Korea and abroad, or find employment in government-funded research institutes (Korea Research Institute of ChemicalTechnology and the Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science, etc.), private firms (Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, SK Hynix, etc.), and public corporations. DGIST also operates a student-initiated research and entrepreneurship program with support from local government, further diversifying graduates’ career options.
One of the main research interests is to discover new functional materials like iron based high Tc superconductors, and thermoelectric materials. High quality single crystals are grown by using Bridgeman and flux methods. Successfully grown single crystals are characterized through extensive measurements of electrical, magnetic, thermal, structural and optical properties under low temperatures, high magnetic fields and high pressures.
We, Xlab, study X materials to improve the quality of life. Now, we delve into basic science as well as engineering to discover breakthroughs for #Semiconductor, #Energy, and #Sensor. We are especially interested in studying the multifunctional devices in the forms of films and nanostructures. We also endeavor to develop experimental tools to study electrical, magnetic, optical, and chemical properties of emerging X materials.
Research fields in Future Semiconductor Nanophotonics Laboratory include ‘Future Semiconducting Materials’, ‘Quantum Information Devices’, and ‘Light-Matter Interactions’. We explore new science and technologies in emerging semiconducting materials by tailoring the light-matter interactions. To this end, we pursue our studies to understand optical physics in various photonic systems such as optical micro-cavities based on 2D semiconductors and perovskites.
We use computational approaches to design new functional materials and advance our fundamental understanding of condensed matter and nanomaterials. Theoretical methods range from first-principles calculations (density functional theory) to data-driven approaches (machine learning). Therefore, our research is at the intersection of materials physics, chemistry, and computer science. Specific areas of focus include: computational design of functional materials for energy and information applications; simulation of complex systems using machine-learned potentials; use of generative AI for materials science; thermoelectricity in liquids; and “phase” transitions in intermediate-size systems, such as nanoclusters and small proteins.
Our group focuses on the research of transition metal catalysis derived mainly from earth-abundant metals such as copper and nickel. We aim to develop unprecedented chemical transformations, which significantly enhance the economy and the selectivity to access a target chemical product. We pursue to unveil the core chemistry of developed catalysis and apply them to the synthesis of drug and natural products.
Our research group aims to develop porous functional materials, mainly metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), metal-organic polyhedral (MOPs), and metal-organic aerogels (MOAs). In MOFs, MOPs, and MOAs, metal clusters as the joints are interconnected to multitopic organic ligands in the network structures. Thus, their physicochemical properties are highly tailorable through the judicious combinations of the building blocks. Further, the crystalline nature of MOFs facilitates in-depth study of the structure- property relationships. We have been tried to harness these advantages for their applications in gas sorption, ion exchanges, catalysis, and sensing.
The research aim of our research group is development of brand-new materials for sustainable future. Currently, we are interested in following projects – water treatment & seawater desalination materials, Catalytic upcycling of fossil-based plastics, and biomass upcycling.
We are an experimental research group with an aim to understand and develop functional novel materials with exotic properties due to the interactions of spins and electrons. We explore broad range of nanostructured material systems including metals, semiconductors, and oxides to study their electric and magnetic properties.
The goal of our research is to investigate the topological quantum property of two-dimensional electron systems with extraordinarily low levels of disorder. In order to unlock their full potential, we will make unprecedented quality quantum device using an assembly of heterostructures consisting of several layers of different 2D materials by exploiting van der Waals forces. Then, we will control the properties of subjecting the sample to high magnetic field and ultralow temperatures. Finally, we will discover quantum phenomena and build a topological quantum circuit.
We are interested in novel quantum materials. These include high-temperature superconductors that are difficult to explain, topological quantum materials that can be explained but are difficult to find in reality, and magnetic materials useful in academic and industrial fields. We synthesize them in a single crystal or polycrystalline form using the flux method, the chemical vapor transport method, etc. In addition, we study their physical properties, such as atomic structure, electrical properties, magnetic properties, and thermal properties. Let’s start by saying, “There is such a wonderful material in the world, which we have made in our own laboratory! This is interesting because …”.
Our main areas of interest are biophysics in living cells (B-team) and chemistry reactions (C-team) observed under the microscope at the single-molecular level. We are researching interdisciplinary studies in the fields of microscopy, computational science, chemistry, and biology. We are developing imaging and manipulating nanotechnologies, machine learning algorithms for receptor dynamics and their functions in a spatiotemporal and quantitative manner to better understand how cells exploit various stimuli and signaling pathways combined and orchestrated to control a diverse array of cellular processes in widely different spatial and temporal domains.
Catecholic/polyphenolic moieties are involved in various molecular interactions that mediate the adhesion, cohesion, coloration, and others of organic materials in nature. We design novel biomaterials by mimicking the unique chemical structures of these catecholic/polyphenolic biomaterials to address the current unmet needs in biomedical engineering.
Based on the symbiotic relation between developing quantum many-body algorithms and extending knowledge on emergent physics, we aim to provide the numerically exact results on the long-standing problems of strongly correlated systems, including the unconventional superconductors, frustrated spin systems, and light-matter-coupled systems. We have expertise in the quantum Monte Carlo methods, the dynamical mean-field theory, and the Feynman diagrammatic theory.
Organic synthesis and catalysis lab is aiming to develop new catalysts, reagents, and reaction systems and apply them to prepare complicated organic molecules. We are interested in radical and ionic reactions including asymmetric synthesis using organo- and transition metal catalysts. The rational design of organic molecules is the essential theme of this laboratory to solve current issues in organic chemistry.
Our laboratory’s leading research is about metal-organic framework (MOF) materials, a subset of crystalline porous materials built by the self-assembly of metal ions and organic linkers. Currently, we are interested in the reduction/oxidation of transition metal ions by coordination bonding-mediated electron transfer reactions. Also, our studies focus on various methods to activate the MOF materials, such as chemical, microwave, and laser activations. Intrigued by the true nature of chemical bondings, our group members are profoundly investigating weak metal-halogen coordination and hydrogen bondings that propagate through the nanospace.
We develop and utilize the most advanced spectroscopy techniques to elucidate how charge carriers/excitons/ions behave in new energy materials such as organic semiconductors, perovskites, quantum dots etc. Understanding photophysical properties of various energy materials is the first step toward developing and utilizing novel energy materials. By achieving femtosecond time resolution and nanoscale spatial resolution, we provide unprecedented optical and electronic properties of next generation energy materials.
We are working on the fields of Spintronics and nano-micro-devices, exchange biased Planar Hall magnetoresistance sensors and industrial applications. Also our research interests skate the intersection between nano-Spintronics and bio-medical engineering, directed from microscopic biochemical diagnosis of Cardiovascular disease, to mesoscopic cellular diagnosis using micro-magnetophoresis platform, and finally to macroscopic vital signals analysis of vascular system.
Main goals of our researches are finding and studying exotic physical/magnetic phenomena related with the next generation memory and logic devices, which have superb performances over the current Si-based semiconductors.
Scanning Tunneling microscopy presents a powerful technique to study topography and local density of states of materials in nanometer scale. The goal of research is to visualize the quantum effect in the quantum functional materials and to analyze how the electrons interact each other in various experimental conditions answering the interesting questions of superconductivity, heavy fermions and topological phase of materials and so on.
Materials theory is a way to understand properties of emergent materials using theoretical approach. We use computational methods performed on model calculation and first-principle density functional theory to study new physics of the materials.
Our lab. is focusing on extremely light, flexible and bio-compatible devices and sensors that can monitor bio-information without our recognition. Ultra-flexible, sweat permeable devices for E-skin electronics & wearable devices are our current interested research in order to minimize the uncomfortableness during the long term health monitoring.
Our research is mainly focused on organic chemistry, and aims to utilize this fundamental science to solve the increasing environmental issues encountered in modern chemical synthesis. We are particularly interested in establishing interdisciplinary research that involves organometallic and biological platforms, through which unique reaction modes can be innovated for the development of sustainable synthesis that are quicker, selective, cost-effective, atom-economical, and environmentally benign. The reaction development is accompanied by extensive experimental and computational mechanistic studies to understand the relevant chemical transformation at the molecular level. The research findings achieved in our group find broad applications in a wide range of fields including pharmaceutical, agrochemical and material sciences.
We focus on tracking three-dimensional molecular structural changes in real-time to unveil chemical and biological reaction mechanisms. We use time-resolved x-ray scattering, providing superb temporal and spatial resolution to visualize atomic movements in molecules. This method can also be applied to proteins. In addition, we are developing computational methods combining Monte-Carlo simulations, molecular dynamics simulations, and machine learning methods to extract detailed protein structural changes from the experimental data. Eventually, we aim to provide fundamental mechanistic information for various chemical and biological reactions, critical for improving catalytic efficiency, controlling products, and understanding biological phenomena and protein-involved diseases.