Research Activities

Professor Harb conducts research in electrochemical engineering, which includes a wide range of topics that are governed by electrochemical phenomena.    Of particular interest are energy storage devices (e.g. batteries), micro- and nanofabricated electrochemical devices, and the fundamental processes that govern electrodeposition and dissolution.  His work has traditionally included both modeling and experiment, and frequently involves interdisciplinary collaboration in order to address problems of broad significance.
Battery development and performance represents the critical step in the development and optimization of several important technologies, including electric vehicles and hybrid-electric vehicles.  Batteries are also needed for microsystems as part of a new generation of small, integrated systems.  These complex engineering systems built on a microscopic scale permit interaction between computational circuitry and the physical world (e.g. sensors, pumps, accelerometers, etc.) and have important application in fields ranging from medicine to manufacturing.  Microscopic batteries, such as those developed at BYU, represent an efficient, flexible, and cost-effective method of providing power for autonomous operation of microsystems. 

Dr. Harb also leads a multidisciplinary effort that seeks to combine the complementary advantages of bottom-up self-assembly with top-down patterning, with the goal of providing processes for fabrication of useful nanostructures and devices such as nanoelectronic circuits.    Efforts are focused on the development and refinement of four key technologies:  (1) solution-phase assembly of DNA-based structures and templates, (2) high-resolution chemical surface patterning, (3) high-precision metallization of biomolecular templates, and (4) chemically directed assembly and integration of nanostructures on surfaces. Additional information on this project can be found at NSF ASCENT Project.

Current Graduate Students

Tim Miller (Ph.D.) Topic: Electrochemical behavior of ferritin-based nanostructures (finishing his degree while working for IM Flash in Lehi).

Yin Zhang (Ph.D.) Topic: Microbatteries for autonomous hybrid micropower systems with medical applications.

Jianfei Liu (Ph.D.) Topic: Metallization of DNA templates for nanoelectronic circuits.

Kyle Nelson (Ph.D.) Topic: Directed DNA alignment and wire patterning for nanoelectronic circuits by chemical templating.