About

David S. Ginger is the B. Seymour Rabinovitch Endowed Chair in Chemistry at the University of Washington. His research focuses on the development and application of advanced spectroscopic techniques to study materials at the molecular and atomic levels. His work aims to understand the fundamental properties of materials, which can lead to innovations in energy, electronics, and nanotechnology. Ginger's background includes extensive work in the field of physical chemistry, with a particular emphasis on spectroscopy and materials science. His contributions include advancing the understanding of material behaviors through innovative experimental approaches, and he is recognized for his leadership in the field of chemical research. As a faculty member, he is involved in mentoring students and guiding research efforts that push the boundaries of current scientific knowledge.

Research topics

• Chemistry
• Nanotechnology
• Optoelectronics
• Materials science
• Chemical engineering
• Physics
• Engineering
• Crystallography
• Inorganic chemistry
• Medicine
• Quantum mechanics
• Engineering physics

Selected publications

• Influence of Ligand Exchange on Single Particle Properties of Cesium Lead Bromide Quantum Dots

  Chemistry of Materials · 2026-01-20 · 1 citations

  articleSenior authorCorresponding

  Improving the properties of perovskite quantum dots (QDs) for quantum-light applications such as single photon emission requires a systematic understanding of the influence of ligand surface chemistry on single particle properties including line width and photoluminescence (PL) blinking. Here, we investigate the influence of ligand exchange on both the optical and structural properties of the single QDs. We examine PL blinking using a wide-field fluorescence microscope with ligand-exchanged QDs. We find that the zwitterionic ligands lecithin and phosphoethanolamine (PEA-C8C12) reduce blinking compared to dodecylammonium bromide (DDAB) and a bidentate dicationic quaternary ammonium bromide (DC) ligands, which have mono- and bidentate cationic head groups, respectively. The champion PEA-C8C12 shows a nonblinking fraction of 0.21, compared to 0.01 for the cationic-capped QDs. We further investigate the effect of ligand capping on low-temperature line width. We probe single particle line widths and show that zwitterionic PEA-C8C12 and lecithin outperform the cationic surface ligands for ligand-exchanged samples, having a narrower average single particle line width (24 meV for lecithin and 18 meV for PEA-C8C12 compared to 39 meV for DC-capped and 42 meV for DDAB-capped QDs) over long integration times. We rationalize these findings by quantifying ligand surface coverage using nuclear magnetic resonance, observing that QDs capped by zwitterions have higher ligand surface coverage (6.5 ± 1.6 for lecithin and 7.4 ± 1.9 ligands/nm2 for PEA), consistent with their superior performance at the single particle level. These line width and blinking results show that zwitterionic ligands are a preferable design strategy for reducing PL blinking and improving single particle line widths.

  PublisherDOI

• pH Regulates Ion Dynamics in Carboxylated Mixed Conductors

  Chemistry of Materials · 2026-02-09

  articleOpen accessCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Quantifying Doping Efficiency to Probe the Effects of Nanoscale Morphology and Solvent Swelling in Molecular Doping of Conjugated Polymers

  UNC Libraries · 2026-02-25

  articleOpen access

  We study the doping of conjugated polymers from droplets of molecular dopant solutions, as might be used in additive manufacturing approaches. We compare the doping efficiency of 2,3,5,6-tetrafluoro-7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinodimethane (F4TCNQ) solutions between two model conjugated polymers, regioregular poly­(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and poly­(bithiophene-thienothiophene) copolymer with a triethylene glycol side chain (P­(g32T-TT)). We find that F4TCNQ dopes P­(g32T-TT) more efficiently from solution, producing films with >103 times higher conductivity. Using spectroelectrochemistry to calibrate polaron spectra to known hole injection levels, we quantify the doping efficiency (polarons created/dopant molecule added) to be higher than 170% for P­(g32T-TT) but only 47.2% for P3HT. We further explore the differences in molecular doping using a combination of scanning Kelvin probe microscopy (SKPM) and conductive atomic force microscopy (cAFM). We explore doping efficiency and aggregation as a function of the solvent of the dopant solution, side chain, and regioregularity of conjugated polymers; we show that the doping efficiency and dopant aggregation are both correlated with the ability of the dopant/solvent solution to swell the conjugated polymer, with combinations that swell, resulting in more efficient doping and smoother films with less aggregation.

  PublisherDOI

• pH Regulates Ion Dynamics in Carboxylated Mixed Conductors

  Chemistry of Materials · 2026-02-09 · 1 citations

  articleOpen accessCorresponding

  Coupled ionic and electronic transport underpins processes as diverse as electrochemical energy conversion, biological signaling, and soft adaptive electronics. Yet, how chemical environments such as pH modulate this coupling at the molecular scale remains poorly understood. Here, we show that the protonation state of carboxylated polythiophenes provides precise chemical control over ion dynamics, doping efficiency, solvent uptake, and mechanical response. Using a suite of multimodal operando techniques, supported by simulations, we reveal that pH dictates the balance of cation/anion uptake during electrochemical doping. Mapping across pH uncovers a quasi-nonswelling regime (≈pH 3–3.5) where charge compensation proceeds with minimal volumetric change yet pronounced stiffening. These findings establish molecular acidity as a general strategy to program ionic preference and mechanical stability, offering design principles for pH-responsive mixed conductors and soft electronic materials that couple ionic, electronic, and mechanical functionality.

  PublisherDOI

• Multioutput Convolutional Neural Network for Improved Parameter Extraction in Time-Resolved Electrostatic Force Microscopy Data

  Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling · 2025-05-23 · 1 citations

  articleSenior authorCorresponding

  Time-resolved scanning probe microscopy methods, like time-resolved electrostatic force microscopy (trEFM), enable imaging of dynamic processes ranging from ion motion in batteries to electronic dynamics in microstructured thin film semiconductors for solar cells. Reconstructing the underlying physical dynamics from these techniques can be challenging due to the interplay of cantilever physics with the actual transient kinetics of interest in the resulting signal. Previously, quantitative trEFM used empirical calibration of the cantilever or feed-forward neural networks trained on simulated data to extract the physical dynamics of interest. Both these approaches are limited by interpreting the underlying signal as a single exponential function, which serves as an approximation but does not adequately reflect many realistic systems. Here, we present a multibranched, multioutput convolutional neural network (CNN) that uses the trEFM signal in addition to the physical cantilever parameters as input. The trained CNN accurately extracts parameters describing both single-exponential and biexponential underlying functions and more accurately reconstructs real experimental data in the presence of noise. This work demonstrates an application of physics-informed machine learning to complex signal processing tasks, enabling more efficient and accurate analysis of trEFM.

  PublisherDOI

• Deterministic printing and heterointegration of single quantum dots

  Research Square · 2025-04-25

  preprintOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Deposition-Dependent Coverage and Performance of Phosphonic Acid Interface Modifiers in Halide Perovskite Optoelectronics

  ArXiv.org · 2025-06-24

  preprintOpen accessSenior author

  In this work, we study the effect of various deposition methods for phosphonic acid interface modifiers commonly pursued as self-assembled monolayers in high-performance metal halide perovskite photovoltaics and light-emitting diodes. We compare the deposition of (2-(3,6-diiodo-9H-carbazol-9-yl)ethyl)phosphonic acid onto indium tin oxide (ITO) bottom contacts by varying three parameters: the method of deposition, specifically spin coating or prolonged dip coating, ITO surface treatment via HCl/FeCl3 etching, and use in combination with a second modifier, 1,6-hexylenediphosphonic acid. We demonstrate that varying these modification protocols can impact time-resolved photoluminescence carrier lifetimes and quasi-Fermi level splitting of perovskite films deposited onto the phosphonic-acid-modified ITO. Ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy shows an increase in effective work function after phosphonic acid modification and clear evidence for photoemission from carbazole functional groups at the ITO surface. We use X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy to probe differences in phosphonic acid coverage on the metal oxide contact and show that perovskite samples grown on ITO with the highest phosphonic acid coverage exhibit the longest carrier lifetimes. Finally, we establish that device performance follows these same trends. These results indicate that the reactivity, heterogeneity, and composition of the bottom contact help to control recombination rates and therefore power conversion efficiencies. ITO etching, prolonged deposition times for phosphonic acids via dip coating, and the use of a secondary, more hydrophilic bis-phosphonic acid, all contribute to improvements in surface coverage, carrier lifetime, and device efficiency. These improvements each have a positive impact, and we achieve the best results when all three strategies are implemented.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Air-stable n-type dopant for organic semiconductors via a single-photon catalytic process

  Science Advances · 2025-06-06 · 6 citations

  articleOpen access

  Controlled doping of conjugated polymer-based semiconductors is crucial for optoelectronic applications. While p-type doping of conjugated polymers can be readily achieved with a variety of oxidants, n-type doping is more challenging, usually requiring highly reactive reducing agents. Here, we demonstrate that an air-stable photoredox catalyst (acridinium salt), together with a mild and air-stable reducing agent (amine), can effectively dope common n-type conjugated polymers under light at room temperature, yielding conductivity values on par with the highest obtained via other means. We elucidate the mechanism and show that this photoredox n-doping occurs via a one-photon-one-electron transfer process that is catalytic in nature. This simple and facile n-doping approach opens more avenues for doping organic semiconductors with the potential to revolutionize device design and substantially enhance doping efficiency.

  PublisherDOI

• Trion Formation Hampers Single Quantum Dot Performance in Silane-Coated FAPbBr3 Quantum Dots

  ArXiv.org · 2025-12-10

  preprintOpen accessSenior author

  We explore silane-coated formamidinium lead bromide (FAPbBr3) quantum dots as single photon emitters and compare them to FAPbBr3 quantum dots passivated with a phosphoethylammonium derivative (PEAC8C12), which represents current state-of-the-art in zwitterionic molecular surface ligand passivation. We compare properties including single-photon purity (g2(t)), linewidth, blinking, and photostability. We find that at room temperature, these silane-coated dots perform comparably to the PEAC8C12 passivation in terms of single-photon performance metrics, while exhibiting improvements in photostability. However, we find that at 4K, silane-coated FAPbBr3 quantum dots perform worse than the PEAC8C12-passivated samples, exhibiting faster blue-shifting and photobleaching under illumination. Analysis of fluorescence lifetime intensity distributions from the photon-counting data indicates increased efficiency of fast non-radiative processes in the silane-coated quantum dots at 4K. We propose a trion related degradation pathway at low temperatures that is consistent with the observed kinetics and estimate that at 4K with 6.1 uJ/cm2, 472 nm excitation the silane-coated quantum dots build up double the trion population of their PEAC8C12-passivated counterparts.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Surface Passivation for Halide Optoelectronics: Comparing Optimization and Reactivity of Amino-Silanes with Formamidinium

  Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2025-11-07 · 1 citations

  articleSenior authorCorresponding

  ) cations in solution and in the solid state. This work underscores the importance of optimizing deposition conditions to balance effective passivation with potential performance loss and elucidates previously unrecognized reactive chemistry between amino-silane passivating agents and halide perovskites.

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• STC: Center for Integration of Modern Optoelectronic Materials on Demand

  NSF · $24.5M · 2021–2026

• MRI: Development of a Scanning Probe Microscope for Resolving Fast Local Dynamics in Nanostructured Materials

  NSF · $600k · 2013–2016

• What Controls Kinetics in Organic Mixed Conductors for Neuromorphic Computing and Beyond?

  NSF · $541k · 2023–2026

• Imaging Defect Dynamics in Organic Semiconductor Films

  NSF · $445k · 2013–2016

• Collaborative Research: Chemical Control of Polymer/PbS Blends for PV Applications

  NSF · $300k · 2014–2017

Frequent coauthors

• Rajiv Giridharagopal

  University of Washington

  64 shared

• Alex K.‐Y. Jen

  City University of Hong Kong

  45 shared

• Seth R. Marder

  30 shared

• Kathryn N. Guye

  University of Washington

  28 shared

• Dane W. deQuilettes

  Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  28 shared

• Yangwei Shi

  27 shared

• Fangyuan Jiang

  University of Washington

  26 shared

• Sarthak Jariwala

  26 shared

Awards & honors

• Fellow, Materials Research Society, 2023
• Washington State Academy of Sciences, Elected Member, 2018
• Transformational Research and Excellence in Education (TREE)…
• Blavatnik Award for Young Scientists, Chemistry Finalist, 20…
• Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science,…