Dr. Lea Nienhaus joined Rice in 2024 as an Associate Professor of Chemistry, a Norman Hackerman-Welch Investigator, and a Rice Advanced Materials Institute Fellow. Prior to joining the faculty at Rice, she was an Assistant Professor at Florida State University in the Department of Chemistry from 2018-2024. She received her B.Sc. in Chemistry from the Universität Ulm, Germany in 2010 after which she pursued her graduate studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign under the direction of Prof. Martin Gruebele working on single molecule absorption of nanomaterials by scanning tunneling microscopy, which piqued her interest in quantum dots. After completing her Ph.D., she joined the group of Prof. Moungi Bawendi at MIT and was introduced to the realm of photon upconversion. At Rice University, her research interests are focused on understanding the complex structure-property relationships underlying light-matter interactions in materials relevant to photovoltaics by a combination of scanning probe microscopy and optical spectroscopy. She is the recipient of an NSF CAREER Award, the Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award and the Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship.

Research Summary:

The Nienhaus Research Group is interested in understanding the role of nanoscale structure on the ensemble materials properties. The group has pioneered solid-state perovskite-sensitized photon upconversion using a variety of tetracene and anthracene derivatives and studied the triplet generation process at the interface of perovskites and organic molecules. Subtle differences in the local structural environment of the organic molecules have clear impact on the underlying energy landscape and the group uses a variety of structural, spectroscopy and microscopy methods to disentangle the structure-function relationship. At Rice, the group will continue to push the envelope of coupled scanning probe microscopy and optical spectroscopy to understand the effects of nanoscale disorder in perovskites, organic semiconductors and hydrogen-bonded supramolecular networks. Research in the Nienhaus Group is highly interdisciplinary combining a wide variety of chemical and physical methods, materials development and synthesis and engineering approaches.