Brandon Wilfong
Postdoctoral Researcher
Johns Hopkins University, Department of Chemistry
Bloomberg Center for Physics and Astronomy
San Martin Dr, Baltimore, MD 21210
email : bwilfon3@jhu.edu
Bio
I was born and raised in northern Maryland and played soccer at Washington College while studying chemistry and mathematics. I completed my doctoral work at the University of Maryland through the Chemical Physics program under the guidance of Dr. Efrain E. Rodriguez and Dr. Johnpierre Paglione. I completed a two-year position as an assistant research professor at the United States Naval Academy working with Dr. Michelle E. Jamer working on research as well as an teaching undergraduate physics course. I am currently a postdoctoral research at Johns Hopkins University working with Dr. Tyrel M. McQueen on synthesis and characterization of quantum materials. When I am not in the lab or behind a computer, I spend most of my time trail running, backpacking, and camping with my dogs and gardening at home. Always free to chat about running, soccer and research.
Latest Publication
Sr(Ag1−xLix)2Se2 and [Sr3Se2][(Ag1−xLix)2Se2] Tunable Direct Band Gap Semiconductors
Synthesizing solids in molten fluxes enables the rapid diffusion of soluble species at temperatures lower than in solid-state reactions, leading to crystal formation of kinetically stable compounds. In this study, we demonstrate the effectiveness of mixed hydroxide and halide fluxes in synthesizing complex Sr/Ag/Se in mixed LiOH/LiCl. We have accessed a series of two-dimensional Sr(Ag1−xLix)2Se2 layered phases. With increased LiOH/LiCl ratio or reaction temperature, Li partially substituted Ag to form solid solutions of Sr(Ag1−xLix)2Se2 with x up to 0.45. In addition, a new type of intergrowth compound [Sr3Se2][(Ag1−xLix)2Se2] was synthesized upon further reaction of Sr(Ag1−xLix)2Se2 with SrSe. Both Sr(Ag1−xLix)2Se2 and [Sr3Se2][(Ag1−xLix)2Se2] exhibit a direct band gap, which increases with increasing Li substitution (x). Therefore, the band gap of Sr(Ag1−xLix)2Se2 can be precisely tuned via fine-tuning x that is controlled by only the flux ratio and temperature.