As highlighted by a joint appointment in the Department of Chemistry and Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science , research in the Barron group focuses on the chemistry and materials science of aluminum and its related elements in the periodic table. With such an understanding it is possible to control structure at the both the nanometer and Angstrom level.
Aluminum oxides are an ubiquitous part of modern technology.
Organoaluminum compounds are of industrial importance in processes for making a wide variety of chemical products and as highly selective reagents in organic synthesis. More recently organometallic compounds of aluminum, gallium and indium have become important as precursors to electronic materials and ceramics. Each of the areas described above provides significant challenges for a multidisciplinary approach to scientific research, both at the level of basic science and that of direct technological application. Given the interdisciplinary nature of modern science, techniques traditional to chemistry can be used to solve real problems in material science and, as is often overlooked, materials science can aid in the development of new areas or answer questions in chemistry. The diversity of research interests within the Barron Group enables members of the group to not only gain a broad range of knowledge, techniques, and views, but to leverage off of the expertise of other group members in creatively approaching scientific questions.