Research in the Gu Group
Stanford Mechanical Engineering
The soaring global demand for housing, transportation and infrastructure in the face of diminishing natural resources necessitates the development of lightweight, durable and multifunctional structural materials with performance far beyond that achievable today. Nanomaterials will be critical for meeting this challenge because of their unprecedented high strength, toughness and ductility in conjunction with their novel electronic, optical and transport behavior.
Technological breakthroughs using structural nanomaterials require an improved understanding of the origin of mechanical size effects and nanoscale phenomena, as well as advances in the manufacture and assembly of nanostructures. The Gu research group studies the mechanical behavior of architected nanomaterials, in order to design nanocomposites with extraordinary mechanical performance, and sensors that turn mechanical energy into optical or electronic signals.
The Gu group uses the tools of mechanical testing and design, bottom-up colloidal synthesis, top-down nanofabrication, in-situ electron microscopy, and materials characterization in the following research areas:
1) Self-assembly of lightweight and durable nanocomposites 2) Dynamics of deformation at nanoscale interfaces 3) Mechanical actuation of optoelectronic nanostructures
