Bio

We are engaged in theory and modeling of materials at the atomic scale. Our recent work has two primary directions:

1. Monolayer and few layer materials (i.e. graphene, MoS2) for electronics, NEMS, and energy applications.
2. Materials at conditions of high temperature, electromagnetic fields, and pressures, including dynamic or shock compression.

Recent research topics include piezoelectricity and phase change effects in monolayer materials. Past topics include THz radiation generation, energetic materials, and photonic crystals. We develop and utilize computational tools (molecular dynamics statistical methods, electronic structure, materials informatics approaches, etc.) and interact closely with experimentalists.

Academic Appointments

Honors & Awards

  • ONR Young Investigator Program Award (YIP), Office of Naval Research (2015)
  • NSF Career Award, NSF (2014)
  • Young Faculty Award, DARPA (2012)
  • Robert Noyce Faculty Scholar, Stanford University School of Engineering (2010-2013)
  • Ernest O. Lawrence Postdoctoral Fellow, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (2004 - 2007)

Professional Education

  • BS, Caltech, Applied Physics (1998)
  • PhD, MIT, Physics (2003)

Contact

2015-16 Courses

Stanford Advisees

All Publications

  • Piezoelectricity: Now in two dimensions. Nature nanotechnology Reed, E. J. 2015; 10 (2): 106-107

    View details for DOI 10.1038/nnano.2014.319

    View details for PubMedID 25531086

  • Strain engineering in monolayer materials using patterned adatom adsorption. Nano letters Li, Y., Duerloo, K. N., Reed, E. J. 2014; 14 (8): 4299-4305

    Abstract

    We utilize reactive empirical bond order (REBO)-based interatomic potentials to explore the potential for the engineering of strain in monolayer materials using lithographically or otherwise patterned adatom adsorption. In the context of graphene, we discover that the monolayer strain results from a competition between the in-plane elasticity and out-of-plane relaxation deformations. For hydrogen adatoms on graphene, the strain outside the adsorption region vanishes due to out-of-plane relaxation deformations. Under some circumstances, an annular adsorption pattern generates homogeneous tensile strains of approximately 2% in graphene inside the adsorption region, approximately 30% of the strain in the adsorbed region. We find that an elliptical adsorption pattern produces strains of as large as 5%, close to the strain in the adsorbed region. Also, nonzero maximum shear strain (∼4%) can be introduced by the elliptical adsorption pattern. We find that an elastic plane stress model provides qualitative guidance for strain magnitudes and conditions under which strain-diminishing buckling can be avoided. We identify geometric conditions under which this effect has potential to be scaled to larger areas. Our results elucidate a method for strain engineering at the nanoscale in monolayer devices.

    View details for DOI 10.1021/nl500974t

    View details for PubMedID 25051232

  • Structural phase transitions in two-dimensional Mo- and W-dichalcogenide monolayers NATURE COMMUNICATIONS Duerloo, K. N., Li, Y., Reed, E. J. 2014; 5

    Abstract

    Mo- and W-dichalcogenide compounds have a two-dimensional monolayer form that differs from graphene in an important respect: it can potentially have more than one crystal structure. Some of these monolayers exhibit tantalizing hints of a poorly understood structural metal-to-insulator transition with the possibility of long metastable lifetimes. If controllable, such a transition could bring an exciting new application space to monolayer materials beyond graphene. Here we discover that mechanical deformations provide a route to switching thermodynamic stability between a semiconducting and a metallic crystal structure in these monolayer materials. Based on state-of-the-art density functional and hybrid Hartree-Fock/density functional calculations including vibrational energy corrections, we discover that MoTe2 is an excellent candidate phase change material. We identify a range from 0.3 to 3% for the tensile strains required to transform MoTe2 under uniaxial conditions at room temperature. The potential for mechanical phase transitions is predicted for all six studied compounds.

    View details for DOI 10.1038/ncomms5214

    View details for Web of Science ID 000340611600002

    View details for PubMedID 24981779

  • Optical Characterization of Chemistry in Shocked Nitromethane with Time-Dependent Density Functional Theory JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY A Pellouchoud, L. A., Reed, E. J. 2013; 117 (47): 12288-12298

    Abstract

    We compute the optical properties of the liquid-phase energetic material nitromethane (CH3NO2) for the first 100 ps behind the front of a simulated shock at 6.5 km/s, close to the experimentally observed detonation shock speed of the material. We utilize molecular dynamics trajectories computed using the multiscale shock technique (MSST) for time-resolved optical spectrum calculations based on both linear response time-dependent DFT (TDDFT) and the Kubo-Greenwood formula with Kohn-Sham DFT wave functions. We find that the TDDFT method predicts an optical conductivity 25-35% lower than the Kubo-Greenwood calculation and provides better agreement with the experimentally measured index of refraction of unreacted nitromethane. We investigate the influence of electronic temperature on the Kubo-Greenwood spectra and find no significant effect at optical wavelengths. In both Kubo-Greenwood and TDDFT, the spectra evolve nonmonotonically in time as shock-induced chemistry takes place. We attribute the time-resolved absorption at optical wavelengths to time-dependent populations of molecular decomposition products, including NO, CNO, CNOH, H2O, and larger molecules. These calculations offer direction for guiding and interpreting ultrafast optical measurements on reactive materials.

    View details for DOI 10.1021/jp406877g

    View details for Web of Science ID 000327812800011

    View details for PubMedID 24168072

  • Flexural Electromechanical Coupling: A Nanoscale Emergent Property of Boron Nitride Bilayers NANO LETTERS Duerloo, K. N., Reed, E. J. 2013; 13 (4): 1681-1686

    Abstract

    The symmetry properties of atomically thin boron nitride (BN) monolayers endow them with piezoelectric properties, whereas the bulk parent crystal of stacked BN layers is not piezoelectric. This suggests potential for unusual electromechanical properties in the few layer regime. In this work, we explore this regime and discover that a bilayer consisting of two BN monolayers exhibits a strong mechanical coupling between curvature and electric fields. Using a mechanical model with parameters obtained from density functional theory, we find that these bilayers amplify in-plane piezoelectric displacements by exceedingly large factors on the order of 10(3)-10(4). We find that this type of electromechanical coupling is an emergent nanoscale property that occurs only for the case of two stacked BN monolayers.

    View details for DOI 10.1021/nl4001635

    View details for Web of Science ID 000317549300051

  • Comparison of ReaxFF, DFTB and DFT for Phenolic Pyrolysis II : Elementary Reaction Paths. Journal of Physical Chemistry A Bauschlicher, C., W., Qi, T., Reed, E., J., Lenfant, A., Lawson, J., W., Desai, T., G. 2013; 114: 11126-11135

    View details for DOI 10.1021/jp408113w

  • Comparison of ReaxFF, DFTB and DFT for Phenolic Pyrolysis I : Molecular Dynamics Simulations. Journal of Physical Chemistry A Qi, T., Bauschlicher, C., W., Lawson, J., W., Desai, T., G., Reed, E., J. 2013; 114: 11115-11125

    View details for DOI 10.1021/jp4081096

  • Simulations of Shocked Methane Including Self-Consistent Semiclassical Quantum Nuclear Effects JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY A Qi, T., Reed, E. J. 2012; 116 (42): 10451-10459

    Abstract

    A methodology is described for atomistic simulations of shock-compressed materials that incorporates quantum nuclear effects on the fly. We introduce a modification of the multiscale shock technique (MSST) that couples to a quantum thermal bath described by a colored noise Langevin thermostat. The new approach, which we call QB-MSST, is of comparable computational cost to MSST and self-consistently incorporates quantum heat capacities and Bose-Einstein harmonic vibrational distributions. As a first test, we study shock-compressed methane using the ReaxFF potential. The Hugoniot curves predicted from the new approach are found comparable with existing experimental data. We find that the self-consistent nature of the method results in the onset of chemistry at 40% lower pressure on the shock Hugoniot than observed with classical molecular dynamics. The temperature shift associated with quantum heat capacity is determined to be the primary factor in this shift.

    View details for DOI 10.1021/jp308068c

    View details for Web of Science ID 000310120800022

    View details for PubMedID 23013329

  • Intrinsic Piezoelectricity in Two-Dimensional Materials JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY LETTERS Duerloo, K. N., Ong, M. T., Reed, E. J. 2012; 3 (19): 2871-2876

    View details for DOI 10.1021/jz3012436

    View details for Web of Science ID 000309505400023

  • Ultrafast Detonation of Hydrazoic Acid (HN3) PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS Reed, E. J., Rodriguez, A. W., Manaa, M. R., Fried, L. E., Tarver, C. M. 2012; 109 (3)

    Abstract

    The fastest self-sustained chemical reactions in nature occur during detonation of energetic materials where reactions are thought to occur on nanosecond or longer time scales in carbon-containing materials. Here we perform the first atomistic simulation of an azide energetic material, HN3, from the beginning to the end of the chemical evolution and find that the time scale for complete decomposition is a mere 10 ps, orders of magnitude shorter than that of secondary explosives and approaching the fundamental limiting time scale for chemistry; i.e., vibrational time scale. We study several consequences of the short time scale including a state of vibrational disequilibrium induced by the fast transformations.

    View details for DOI 10.1103/PhysRevLett.109.038301

    View details for Web of Science ID 000306466900025

    View details for PubMedID 22861903

  • Engineered Piezoelectricity in Graphene ACS NANO Ong, M. T., Reed, E. J. 2012; 6 (2): 1387-1394

    Abstract

    We discover that piezoelectric effects can be engineered into nonpiezoelectric graphene through the selective surface adsorption of atoms. Our calculations show that doping a single sheet of graphene with atoms on one side results in the generation of piezoelectricity by breaking inversion symmetry. Despite their 2D nature, piezoelectric magnitudes are found to be comparable to those in 3D piezoelectric materials. Our results elucidate a designer piezoelectric phenomenon, unique to the nanoscale, that has potential to bring dynamical control to nanoscale electromechanical devices.

    View details for DOI 10.1021/nn204198g

    View details for Web of Science ID 000300757900046

    View details for PubMedID 22196055

  • Electron-Ion Coupling in Shocked Energetic Materials JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY C Reed, E. J. 2012; 116 (3): 2205-2211

    View details for DOI 10.1021/jp206769c

    View details for Web of Science ID 000299584400022

  • Backwards Doppler Shifts.  Nature Photonics Reed, E., J. 2011; 5: 199

    View details for DOI 10.1038/nphoton.2011.40

  • Anomalous sound propagation and slow kinetics in dynamically compressed amorphous carbon. Physical Review E  Reed, E., J., Maiti, A., Fried, L., E. 2010; 81

    View details for DOI 10.1103/PhysRevE.81.016607

  • Synthesis of glycine-containing complexes in impacts of comets on early Earth. Nature Chemistry Goldman, N., Reed, E., J., Fried, L., Kuo, IF., W., Maiti, A. 2010; 2: 949-954

    View details for DOI 10.1038/NCHEM.827

  • Ab initio simulation of the equation of state and kinetics of shocked water. Journal of Chemical Physics Reed, E., J., Goldman, N. et al. 2009; 130

    View details for DOI 10.1063/1.3089426

  • Quantum mechanical corrections to simulated shock Hugoniot temperatures.  Journal of Chemical Physics Goldman, N., Reed, E., J., Fried, L., E. 2009; 131

    View details for DOI 10.1063/1.3262710

  • Observation of terahertz radiation coherently generated by acoustic waves.  Nature Physics  Reed, E., J., Armstrong, M., R. et al. 2009; 5: 285-288

    View details for DOI 10.1038/nphys1219

  • Purcell effect in nonlinear photonic structures: A coupled mode theory analysis. Optics Express Reed, E., J., Hamam, R., E. et al. 2008; 16: 12523-12537
  • Ultrafast transformation of graphite to diamond: An ab initio study of graphite under shock compression. Journal of Chemical Physics Reed, E., J., Mundy, C., J. et al. 2008; 128

    View details for DOI 10.1063/1.2913201

  • Ultrafast high strain rate acoustic wave measurements at high static pressure in a diamond anvil cell. Applied Physics Letters Armstrong, M., R., Crowhurst, J., C., Reed, E., J., Zaug, J., M. 2008; 92

    View details for DOI 10.1063/1.2898222

  • Atomic-scale time and space resolution of terahertz frequency acoustic waves. Physical Review Letters Reed, E., J., Armstrong, M., R., Kim, K., Y., Glownia, J., H. 2008; 101

    View details for DOI 10.1103/PhysRevLett.101.014302

  • Terahertz radiation from shocked materials.  Materials Today  Reed, E., J. et al. 2007; 10: 44-50
  • Molecular dynamics simulations of coherent optical photon emission from shock waves in crystals. Phys Rev B Reed, E., J., Soljacic, M., Gee, R., Joannopoulos, J., D. 2007; 75

    View details for DOI 10.1103/PhysRevB.75.174302

  • Maxwell equation simulations of coherent optical photon emission from shock waves in crystals. Physical Review E  Reed, E., J., Soljacic, M., Joannopoulos, J., D. 2007; 75

    View details for DOI 10.1103/PhysRevE.75.056611

  • Coherent optical photons from shock waves in crystals.  Physical Review Letters Reed, E., J., Soljacic, M., Gee, R., Joannopoulos, J., D. 2006; 96

    View details for DOI 10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.013904

  • Reversed and anomalous doppler effects in photonic crystals and other time-dependent periodic media. Journal of Computer-Aided Materials Design  Reed, E., J., Soljacic, M., Ibanescu, M., Joannopoulos, J., D. 2006; 12: 1-15

    View details for DOI 10.1007/s10820-005-8022-9

  • Enhanced photonic band-gap confinement via van hove saddle point singularities. Physical Review Letters Ibanescu, M., Reed, E., J., Joannopoulos, J., D. 2006; 96

    View details for DOI 10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.033904

  • Doppler radiation emitted by an oscillating dipole moving inside a photonic band-gap crystal.  Physical Review Letters Luo, C., Y., Ibanescu, M., Reed, E., J., Johnson, S., G., Joannopoulos, J., D. 2006; 96

    View details for DOI 10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.043903

  • Comment on "Explanation of the inverse doppler effect observed in nonlinear transmission lines". Physical Review Letters Reed, E., J., Soljaci, M., Joannopoulos, J., D. 2006; 96

    View details for DOI 10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.069402

  • Comment on "Observation of the inverse Doppler effect". Science  Reed, E., J., Soljacic, M., Ibanescu, M., Joannopoulos, J., D. 2004; 305 
  • Reversed Doppler effect in photonic crystals. Physical Review Letters Reed, E., J., Soljacic, M., Joannopoulos, J., D. 2003; 91

    View details for DOI 10.1103/PhysRevLett.91.133901

  • Color of shock waves in photonic crystals.  Physical Review Letters Reed, E., J., Soljacic, M., Joannopoulos, J., D. 2003; 90

    View details for DOI 10.1103/PhysRevLett.90.203904

  • A method for tractable dynamical studies of single and double shock compression. Physical Review Letters Reed, E., J., Fried, L., E., Joannopoulos, J., D. 2003; 90

    View details for DOI 10.1103/PhysRevLett.90.235503

  • Electronic excitations in shocked nitromethane. Phys Rev B Reed, E., J., Joannopoulos, J., D., Fried, L., E. 2000; 62: 16500-16509