About

Reinhold Dauskardt is the Ruth G. and William K. Bowes Professor in the School of Engineering at Stanford University. His research focuses on materials science and engineering, with particular emphasis on bio-interfaces, electronic, magnetic, and photonic materials, and novel synthesis and fabrication methods. As a faculty member, he contributes to advancing understanding and development of materials for sustainability, biomaterials, and bio-interfaces, integrating these areas to address complex engineering challenges.

Research topics

• Materials science
• Computer Science
• Nanotechnology
• Composite material
• Engineering
• Electrical engineering
• Optoelectronics
• Control engineering
• Business
• Data science
• Physics
• Chemical engineering
• Chemistry
• Systems engineering
• Optics
• Cell biology
• Engineering management
• Risk analysis (engineering)
• Biology

Selected publications

• In situ insights from non-equilibrium solution combustion synthesis: From semiconducting thin films to metallic nanostructures

  Chem · 2026-03-01

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• How to flatten and microbuckle a rough surface with polymer films: biomechanical mechanisms underlying skin anti-wrinkle formulations

  Soft Matter · 2025-01-01

  articleSenior authorCorresponding

  Human skin degrades with age, developing undesirable wrinkles and folds that many individuals prefer to conceal. In response, a market of anti-wrinkle formulations has emerged that claims to restore skin's youthful appearance. However, the biomechanical mechanisms behind this wrinkle reduction remain poorly understood due to the complex mechanics of multi-layer, furrowed structures. Using a combination of digital microscopy and thin-film mechanics techniques, we show that polymers contained in anti-wrinkle formulations form contracting films on the skin surface. This contraction leads to the appearance of fewer wrinkles in two synergistic ways. First, the amplitude of large wrinkles is reduced as the skin surface tries to match the polymer's reduction in length. Second, the skin-now in compression-microbuckles. These microbuckles diffusely reflect light, helping mask larger wrinkles. Using a simplified theoretical model, we explore how the mechanical properties of the skin and polymer alter both processes. By carefully selecting the chemical composition, novel anti-wrinkle formulations can control the amount of wrinkle reduction, while ensuring that the product remains comfortable throughout use.

  PublisherDOI

• Kinetically Controlled Mesoporous Silica Films for Quasi-3D Nanoconfinement of Semicrystalline Polymers below Their Lamellae Dimensions

  ACS Nano · 2025-07-03 · 1 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  Mesoporous silica thin films are candidates for next-generation dielectric materials due to their potential for control over their texture, high surface area, and good dielectric properties. Further, their dielectric response can potentially be further modified by infiltrating a second phase such as a polymer to produce thin film nanocomposite dielectrics. Despite their potential, uptake of mesoporous silica thin films has been hindered by difficulties in controlling the nanoscale structure and silica texture. We employ advanced characterization and kinetic Monte Carlo modeling to identify critical synthesis parameters governing the mesoporous silica texture. Different degrees of pore ordering can be achieved from quasi-random to highly ordered, eliminating the trial-and-error typically associated with achieving a targeted nanostructure. We then infiltrate semicrystalline poly(vinylidene fluoride) and polypropylene into the sub-10 nm pores to completely suppress the formation of crystalline domains in the polymers and produce nanocomposite dielectrics. Polypropylene nanocomposite dielectrics exhibit dielectric constants ∼20% higher than silica and 125% greater than those of polypropylene. Poly(vinylidene fluoride) nanocomposites exhibit relaxor ferroelectric behavior. These dielectric materials are enabled by controlled, hierarchical design that spans the self-assembly of the silica matrix, tuning of the pore surface chemistry, and modification of the polymer conformations through the resulting quasi-3D nanoconfinement. We believe that these nanocomposites represent a powerful platform for the study of polymers under extreme levels of confinement, as well as a potential platform for next-generation dielectric materials.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Accelerating Low-Cost Perovskite Module Manufacturing with High-Throughput Open-Air Techniques

  2025-06-08

  articleSenior author

  Low-cost perovskite PV module manufacturing is achieved with scalable open-air Rapid Spray Plasma Processing (RSPP). RSPP employs uniform ultrasonic spray deposition accompanied by multimodal plasma curing for high-throughput perovskite fabrication in open-air. The multiple plasma curing sources of heat, reactive gaseous species, and UV light enable perovskite curing times of < 1 second and linear throughputs of up to 20 cm/s. Machine learning optimization is employed for the establishment of ideal process parameters and solution chemistries, lending to recent champion open-air perovskite device performances of 19.54% and module performances of 17.43% across 10 cm deposition lengths. Accompanying technoeconomic analysis translating lab-scale open-air perovskite module fabrication to a 100 MW pilot-scale system anticipates >60% cost reduction with open-air spray-based perovskite module manufacturing compared to conventional solution deposition and vacuum-based processes. This enables target Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) of <$0.03/kWh for low-cost RSPP perovskite modules at only 10 – 15-year module lifetimes, providing a promising candidate for next-generation PV.

  PublisherDOI

• Open-air spray deposition of PCBM/BCP electron transport layer for inverted perovskite solar cells

  Matter · 2025-02-17 · 10 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  <h2>Summary</h2> A [6,6]-phenyl C₆₁ butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) and bathocuproine (BCP) electron transport layer (ETL) is spray deposited in open air directly on top of a perovskite at linear speeds of 9 m/min. The PCBM precursor ink contains a binary mixture of 1:1 chlorobenzene:chloroform, which optimizes spray wettability on the perovskite surface and allows quick solvent evaporation. A near-infrared heating module additionally provides a flash cure (<5 s) for the formation of smooth, large-area PCBM films (∼20 cm²). A BCP solution in isopropanol is subsequently sprayed to form an ultrathin (<5 nm) film and characterized with a suite of high-resolution metrologies. The spray-deposition processing and near-infrared treatment do not damage the underlying perovskite. Inverted architecture devices containing the sprayed ETL achieve a champion efficiency of 20.3% and demonstrate stable performance without additional interlayers or surface treatments. The technoeconomic cost of the open-air spray process is compared against traditional vacuum-based evaporation, resulting in a decrease in manufacturing costs by 26%.

  PublisherDOI

• Porogen‐Integrated Rapid Oxidation Enables Structured Mesoporous Metal Oxide Films

  Advanced Materials · 2025-06-13 · 1 citations

  articleSenior authorCorresponding

  Structured metal oxide films have promise in optoelectronics, sensing, energy storage, and catalysis but their uptake is predominately limited due to their long and high-temperature syntheses. Here, a self-assembling polymer is used which can act as a chelating fuel source in a solution combustion reaction to generate highly structured mesoporous aluminum oxide films at <250 °C in a matter of minutes through a process termed porogen-integrated rapid oxidation (PiRO). The resulting films with thicknesses up to 500 nm show an open-cell, face-centered cubic structure of spheroidal pores. Further, an additional ligand can be included to control the self-assembly step to yield both through-film ordering or tunable disordering for increased pore volume as confirmed by both grazing incidence small angle X-ray scattering and ellipsometry. Finally, roll-to-roll manufacturing with PiRO is demonstrated on flexible polymeric substrates. The method offers a tunable, scalable, low-temperature, and lower-cost method to generate large-area structured mesoporous metal oxide films.

  PublisherDOI

• Advancing Steady-State and Sequenced Accelerated Aging for Assessing the Adhesion Degradation of Contemporary Encapsulants

  2025-06-08 · 1 citations

  articleSenior author

  Degradation of photovoltaic encapsulants leading to mechanical embrittlement and delamination remains a cause of failure in solar installations, characterized by a decrease in the adhesion energy, G<inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">c</inf>, at the encapsulant/cell and encapsulant/glass interfaces. Understanding the encapsulants’ degradation mechanisms under different environmental stressors with the loss of adhesion is essential to prevent premature debonding. The IEC 61215-, 61730-, 62788-and 63209-series standards currently use the chamber aging methods of damp heat, thermal cycling, dry heat, and UV weathering to qualify component materials with a basic robustness. However, these tests do not address the potential for encapsulant delamination in the intermediate-and long-term. To advance module design, we subjected coupon specimens (cell/encapsulant/glass laminates) with different encapsulants (EVA, POE, EPE) to 10,000 hours of aging under the following conditions: hot-dry (90°C, ~1% RH), hot-humid (90°C, 60% RH), warm-humid (60°C, 60% RH), and IEC 62788-7-2 A3 (65°C, 20% RH, UV of 0.8 W m<sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">−2</sup> nm<sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">−1</sup> at 340 nm). We measured the samples’ G<inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">c</inf> and the encapsulant layers’ thermal properties in 2500-hour time increments to quantify the kinetic rates of interfacial degradation, elucidate which environmental stressors are most damaging, and refine our previous multiscale reliability model. We measured steep decreases in G<inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">c</inf> for specimens under all conditions except for POE coupons under hot-dry, which retained a high G<inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">c</inf> (thermally stable). We also investigated how the order of sequenced tests (e.g. UV weathering before / after hygrometric aging) affects interfacial and encapsulant degradation. The results can be incorporated into the industry including the IEC standards.

  PublisherDOI

• Cross-Sectional Backscattered Electron Imaging of Mechanically Polished Organic-Inorganic Perovskite Photovoltaics

  Microscopy and Microanalysis · 2025-07-01

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Open‐Air Combustion Synthesis with Rapid Plasma Processing of Large‐Area Transparent Conducting Oxides

  Small · 2025-06-16 · 2 citations

  articleSenior authorCorresponding

  Abstract A vacuum‐free, high‐throughput synthesis of indium tin oxide (ITO) via Combustion Oxidation with Rapid Plasma Processing (CORP) utilizes a solution‐based exothermic combustion reaction to generate the oxide with tunable control of either amorphous or crystalline phases. A subsequent open‐air, forming gas plasma treatment is used to introduce oxygen vacancies and promote crystallization. The evolution of the oxide structure is elucidated by extended X‐ray absorption spectroscopy fine structure analysis. Using CORP, fabrication of 300 cm 2 of ITO possessing a champion sheet resistance of 38 Ω sq. −1 , visible transmission of 89%, conductivity stability for over 250 days, roughness &lt; 2nm, and Haacke figure of merit (%T 550nm 10 /R s ) of 0.012 Ω −1 is achieved. Cost modeling of CORP demonstrates up to a 67% reduction in price for TCOs using fully continuous, in‐line unit operations compared with vacuum sputtering. The work shows a path toward a low‐cost, vacuum‐free manufacturing method for TCOs at commercial scales.

  PublisherDOI

• Rapid scalable plasma processing of thin-film Li–La–Zr–O solid-state electrolytes

  Matter · 2025-10-04 · 1 citations

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Nicholas Rolston

  Arizona State University

  70 shared

• Robert O. Ritchie

  University of California, Berkeley

  42 shared

• Florian Hilt

  Stanford University

  25 shared

• Géraud Dubois

  Meta (United States)

  25 shared

• Kemal Levi

  25 shared

• Brian L. Watson

  21 shared

• Victor W. Wong

  Genesys (United States)

  21 shared

• Oliver Zhao

  19 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Materials Science and Engineering

  Stanford University

  1990

• M.S., Materials Science and Engineering

  Stanford University

  1985

• B.S., Physics

  Technical University of Munich

  1980