UT Austin’s Milliron Awarded O’Donnell Award

Delia J. Milliron at The University of Texas at Austin is the recipient of the 2018 Edith and Peter O'Donnell Award in Engineering from The Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Science of Texas (TAMEST) for her smart window technology.

Milliron has developed a new class of plasmonic materials, enabling unprecedented control over IR light. By adding or removing charge to her doped semiconductor metal oxide nanocrystals, she was able to demonstrate dynamic control over IR light transmission, leading to a new class of smart windows that control lighting and heating on demand.

"Dr. Milliron has a very deep understanding of chemistry and physics," said Thomas M. Truskett, department chair of the McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering at The Cockrell School of Engineering at UT Austin. "She knows how to identify the great problems we face and the societal needs that have to be addressed."

Milliron is a leading researcher in the field of colloidal nanocrystals. She has pioneered the development of doped semiconducting nanocrystals that exhibit plasmonic resonance in the IR spectral region. Plasmonic nanomaterials interact strongly with light at their resonance wavelengths, and classical plasmonic metals, such as gold and silver, have emerging applications ranging from therapeutics to threat detection and diagnostics.

Larger-scale applications of plasmonic materials, such as in energy technologies, could be enabled by Milliron's low-cost metal oxide-based plasmonic materials. She has demonstrated that, unlike classical metals, the resonant response of plasmonic semiconducting nanocrystals can be made responsive to the addition or removal of electronic charge. This dynamic behavior opens new possibilities that were not previously achievable, at any materials cost.

As a result, solar heating and lighting can be controlled on demand for the first time. Milliron's discovery of the fundamental materials science of plasmonic metal oxide nanocrystals is setting the stage for further impact of these new materials in molecular sensing and detection, in catalysis and in solar energy conversion.

"The TAMEST Edith and Peter O'Donnell Awards showcase the best and brightest among Texas researchers," says Gordon England, president of Tamest. "Their work is helping to advance science and open new pathways to discovery. We're proud to recognize Dr. Delia Milliron for her achievements."

TAMEST is the state's premier scientific organization, bringing together Texas' leading scientists and researchers. TAMEST membership includes all Texas-based members of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, and the state's Nobel Laureates.