Sarah H. Tolbert

About

Sarah H. Tolbert is a distinguished professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UCLA, with a research focus on self-organized nanoscale materials. Her group investigates both organic templated inorganic phases and colloidal materials, aiming to understand and control structure and periodicity in complex nanostructured composite materials. Her work explores the exploitation of nanoscale architecture to produce new physical properties, including optical, magnetic, electrical, and structural behaviors, by intrinsically tying these properties to nanoscale structure. Her research employs methods such as colloidal assembly and inorganic/organic co-assembly to create nanoperiodic structures. Colloidal assembly allows for the formation of periodic structures across various length scales, suitable for photonic materials, while inorganic/organic co-assembly involves amphiphilic surfactants or block co-polymers with inorganic oligomers to produce periodic inorganic/organic composites or nanoporous inorganics. Her contributions include examining nanoscale phase transitions, designing electro-active composite materials, and advancing understanding of heat dissipation, phase behavior, and reaction networks in nanostructured systems. Her work has significant implications for energy storage, electronic, and optical applications.

Research topics

• Materials science
• Chemistry
• Organic chemistry
• Nanotechnology
• Composite material
• Chemical engineering
• Physical chemistry
• Inorganic chemistry
• Metallurgy
• Chemical physics

Selected publications

• A fundamental look at electrocatalytic sulfur reduction reaction

  Nature Catalysis · 2020 · 814 citations

  DOI

• Establishing reaction networks in the 16-electron sulfur reduction reaction

  Nature · 2024 · 504 citations

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Tunable Dopants with Intrinsic Counterion Separation Reveal the Effects of Electron Affinity on Dopant Intercalation and Free Carrier Production in Sequentially Doped Conjugated Polymer Films

  Advanced Functional Materials · 2020 · 103 citations

  Carrier mobility in doped conjugated polymers is limited by Coulomb interactions with dopant counterions. This complicates studying the effect of the dopant's oxidation potential on carrier generation because different dopants have different Coulomb interactions with polarons on the polymer backbone. Here, dodecaborane (DDB)-based dopants are used, which electrostatically shield counterions from carriers and have tunable redox potentials at constant size and shape. DDB dopants produce mobile car…

  DOI

• First Principles Study of Aluminum Doped Polycrystalline Silicon as a Potential Anode Candidate in Li‐ion Batteries

  Advanced Energy Materials · 2024-06-11 · 13 citations

  articleOpen access

  Abstract Addressing sustainable energy storage remains crucial for transitioning to renewable sources. While Li‐ion batteries have made significant contributions, enhancing their capacity through alternative materials remains a key challenge. Micro‐sized silicon is a promising anode material due to its tenfold higher theoretical capacity compared to conventional graphite. However, its substantial volumetric expansion during cycling impedes practical application due to mechanical failure and rapi…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Using Bulky Dodecaborane-Based Dopants to Produce Mobile Charge Carriers in Amorphous Semiconducting Polymers

  Chemistry of Materials · 2024-05-17 · 9 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  Conjugated polymers are a versatile class of electronic materials featured in a variety of next-generation electronic devices. The utility of such polymers is contingent in large part on their electrical conductivity, which depends both on the density of charge carriers (polarons) and on the carrier mobility. Carrier mobility, in turn, is largely controlled by the separation between the polarons and dopant counterions, as counterions can produce Coulombic traps. In previous work, we showed that…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• Building Electron Transfer Cascades into Amphiphlic Donor-Acceptor Assemblies

  NSF · $700k · 2016–2020

• Using Self-Organization to Control Nanometer-Scale Architecture in Semiconducting Polymer-Based Solar Cells

  NSF · $916k · 2011–2016

• Using Amphiphilic Semiconducting Polymers to Control Structure and Exited State Dynamic in Conjugated Organic Assemblies

  NSF · $600k · 2020–2024

Frequent coauthors

• Bruce Dunn

  133 shared

• Benjamin J. Schwartz

  University of California, Los Angeles

  113 shared

• Richard B. Kaner

  University of California, Los Angeles

  110 shared

• Laurent Pilon

  82 shared

• Galen D. Stucky

  University of California, Santa Barbara

  55 shared

• Yves Rubin

  52 shared

• Christopher C. Landry

  University of Vermont

  45 shared

• Alain Monnier

  Institut Agro Rennes-Angers

  45 shared

Awards & honors

• Tolman Medal (2023)
• Center for Strain Optimization for Renewable Energy (2023)
• ACS Henry H. Storch Award in Energy Chemistry (2023)
• UCLA Academic Senate Community Service and Praxis Diversity,…
• US DOE SCALAR Center Grant (2018)

Similar researchers at University of California, Los Angeles

• Yu Huangh-166
• David S. Eisenbergh-159
• Philippe Sauteth-125