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Dual plasma in operation
GEC reference reactor
Researcher holding Solar Luminescent concentrator
Plasma Liquid interaction
Kortshagen group congratulates Dr. Ali and Dr. Qiaomiao
A group of smiling researchers on a lake shore. A river and trees are in the background.
An inductively coupled plasma treating magnesium chloride powders. The plasma is glowing bright pink and green.
Summer trip to Kortshagen Cabin
Low pressure non-thermal plasma

What do we do?

The Kortshagen Group explores the applications of plasma in various fields vital to our community. These include nanomaterial synthesis, renewable and clean energy, semiconductor device fabrication, and more. The group investigates these applications using an interdisciplinary approach involving plasma physics, fluid dynamics, thermodynamics, material science, and reactive chemistry. 

"There is plenty of room at the bottom"          -Richard Feynman on Nanotechnology 

Why use plasma?

Though not so common on Earth, 99% of the universe is plasma. Plasmas are partially or fully ionized gases i.e., collection of charged particles (ions and electrons) and neutrals. Due to the presence of ions, free radicals, and excited gas molecules, the plasma acts as a highly reactive environment. This reactive environment can be produced and controlled by applying an electromagnetic field. We, the Kortshagen Group, exploit these unique properties of plasma to enable various chemical processes which are difficult thermally. 

"Plasma seems to have the kinds of properties one would like for life. It’s somewhat like liquid water—unpredictable and thus able to behave in an enormously complex fashion. It could probably carry as much information as DNA does. It has at least the potential for organizing itself in interesting ways"               -Freeman Dyson on Plasma

 

Recent Publications

  • "Sensitized Near-Infrared Emission of SiGe Nanocrystals via Heterostructuring with Quasi Two-Dimensional Perovskite," Yeonjoo Lee, et al., ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces (2025). doi: 10.1021/acsami.5c00173

  • "Advances in plasma-driven solution electrochemistry," Peter J. Bruggeman, et al., J. Chem. Phys. (2025). doi: 10.1063/5.0248579

  • "Aluminum–Silica Core–Shell Nanoparticles via Nonthermal Plasma Synthesis," Thomas Cameron, et al., Nanomaterials (2025). doi: 10.3390/nano15030237

  • "Design guidelines for luminescent solar concentrator greenhouses in the United States," Kristine Q. Loh, et al., Adv. Sustain. Syst. (2024). doi: 10.1002/adsu.202400749 

  • "Synthesis of Composition-Tunable Ag-Cu Bimetallic Nanoparticles Through Plasma-Driven Solution Electrolysis," Chi Xu, et al., Nanomaterials (2024). doi: 10.3390/nano14211758

more>>

News/Highlights

  • June 2025Congratulations to Dr. Kristine Loh for defending this month! Kristine will be working at Swarthmore College. We wish her the best of luck in her new position! 

  • May 2025 - Welcome to new graduate students Shixuan Zhao, Yiwei Zhu and Amber Su!

  • July 2024 - Congratulations to Sachin for receiving the Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship!

  • March 2024 - Congratulations to Drs. Yeonjoo Lee and Chi Xu for defending this month! Yeonjoo will be working at Los Alamos National Lab and Chi will be working at Intel. We wish them the best of luck in their new positions! 

  • October 2023 - Welcome to new graduate students Masoumeh Amirifard and Mohammad Kazemi!

  • September 2023 - Congratulations to Professor Kortshagen for receiving the 2023 George W. Taylor/CSE Alumni Society Award for Distinguished Teaching! Read more about this achievement here 

  • September 2023 - Congratulations to Andrew for defending his Master's thesis! We wish him the best of luck in his next role.

  • June 2023 - Welcome to Andy Chung from Lehigh University who will be joining the group as an ME3 REU student for the summer!