Research Description
Susan Fullerton Shirey’s team studies how ions behave at the boundary between solid electrolytes and atomically thin materials, where even an ultrathin layer of charge can reshape the electrical properties of a device. These hidden interfaces are central to a growing class of low-power electronic systems, but they have been difficult to measure directly. In this project, Fullerton Shirey will combine neutron reflectometry, neutron depth profiling, scanning probe microscopy, electrical transport measurements, and modeling to track how charged layers form, evolve, and influence device behavior. Working first with well-understood materials systems and then with a newly designed solid electrolyte, her team will connect interfacial structure and dynamics to the changing electrical response of operating devices.
Research Impact
Professor Fullerton Shirey’s work could make it easier to understand how ion-controlled interfaces behave in real devices, offering a clearer picture of effects that are often inferred only from electrical measurements. By providing ways to measure buried charged layers and relate them to performance, the project may help researchers design atomically thin electronic systems for ion-based neuromorphic computing, and extend similar approaches to other materials and devices where ions and electrons interact at hidden boundaries.
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related links
Experimental Physics Investigators Initiative 
Science
University of Pittsburgh, Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering
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