My group uses a variety of commercial and custom-built instruments coupled with quantum calculations to go after various topics in modern Physical Chemistry. We use conventional absorption spectroscopy (FTIR and UV-Vis) to get a general picture of the bulk chemical assembly. To investigate chemistry at liquid interfaces, we couple a Langmuir-Blodgett trough with the FTIR spectrometer to perform IR Reflection Absorption Spectroscopy (IRRAS). For microdroplet research, we first isolate single droplets using a Linear Quadrupole Electrodynamic Balance (LQ-EDB), then irradiate the droplets with various light sources to measure its physiochemical properties. One unique technique we used is called Single Droplet Displacement Infrared Action Spectroscopy (SiDDIRAS) that Thien developed during his postdoc to obtain IR spectra of single droplets. For gas-phase research, the group is currently assembling a custom-built mass spectrometer to perform action spectroscopy (IR and UV-Vis), so stay tuned!
The group is actively recruiting enthusiastic undergraduate researchers — no prior experience necessary! If you are interested in coding, electronics design, instrumentation, lasers, and in solving problems, come join us! We like to use expensive "toys" in nontraditional ways to understand chemistry at the molecular level.