The research in the Zheng group is highly interdisciplinary and lies at the intersection of materials chemistry, nanotechnology, solid state chemistry, inorganic chemistry, and photophysics. Our group focuses on designing, synthesizing, and characterizing novel functional inorganic nanomaterials for emerging applications in renewable energy and biological systems. We are particularly interested in the optical, electric, and magnetic properties of transition metal ion doped nanomaterials, selective surface functionalization of nanoparticles, hybrid nanocomposites, and the meso-scale assembly of 3-D nanoparticle superlattices. We aim to answer the fundamental questions pertaining to the role of composition, band gap engineering, and assembly of semiconductor nanomaterials on their physical properties.