Felipe Alexander de Quesada | Student Spotlight

Felipe Alexander de Quesada

PhD Candidate
Materials Science and Engineering

"Making the transition from my undergraduate studies of dynamic polymer-metal composite networks into my current grad school research was challenging at first but ultimately proved to be very rewarding experience."

Here at Stanford, I research pathways to control the structure of layered van der Waals materials. Much like graphite, these materials are made up of thin atomic sheets that stack vertically like sheets of paper. Subtle changes to their stacking configuration can readily alter the properties of these materials, which is why they hold a tremendous potential for the new design of more energy-efficient and reconfigurable memories, transistors and sensors. In my current work, I draw inspiration from the battery community and seek to stabilize different stacking configurations using novel tuning strategies based on electrochemical ion intercalation. This approach allows us to overcome previous limitations of effecting structural changes beyond the thin material limit and even give us access to entirely new phases. In parallel, I also develop and employ non-contact, ultrafast characterization tools that allow us to study and understand how the structure of these materials change in real-time as the intercalation process unfolds.

Making the transition from my undergraduate studies of dynamic polymer-metal composite networks into my current grad school research was challenging at first but ultimately proved to be very rewarding experience. I owe much of this success to the unique resources and support offered by the materials science department, my PhD advisor and the many fantastic colleagues that I had the opportunity to meet in these past few years. Beyond the lab, I always seek ways to give back and extend the opportunities that I had to others around me. Through the department, the EDGE fellowship and the nano@stanford program, I found many unique opportunities to mentor not just incoming graduate students but also engage with middle- and high-schoolers from all across the Bay Area. To me, this has been one of the most rewarding aspects of grad school: the opportunity to inspire and excite others about science, to show that the process of research and discovery is driven by multifaceted perspectives and approaches, and to empower others to dream big and to be daring.