SCHLENKER GROUP

Cody W. Schlenker: Principal Investigator

• ACS Applied Energy Materials Young Investigator, 2020 
• NSF CAREER Award, 2019
• J. Am. Chem. Soc. Young Investigator, 2018
• Washington Research Foundation Innovation Assistant Professor in Chemistry and Clean Energy, UW, 2014
• Bernard and Claudine Nist Endowed Fellow in Chemistry, UW, 2014
• NSF SEES Fellow, UW, 2012 - 2015
• Anton B. Burg Foundation Endowed Fellow in Chemistry,  University of Southern California, 2006 - 2010

Dr. Schlenker is the Washington Research Foundation Innovation Assistant Professor in Chemistry and Clean Energy at the University of Washington in Seattle.  The Schlenker Group specializes in monitoring and manipulating electronic dynamics at various complex chemical interfaces such as those involved in rechargeable battery chemistries, metal-free solar photocatalysts for hydrogen evolution, and next-generation photovoltaic materials. We are addressing scientific questions that are central to the broader challenge of energy sustainability. Our goal is to develop a conceptual bridge to span the gap between bottom-up molecular design and top-down device engineering. Central to our approach is the development of in operando spectroscopies that we use in working devices to identify active species that are responsible for energy conversion in our solar cells, batteries, and photocatalysts.

Professor Schlenker earned his PhD working with Professor Mark E. Thompson as the Anton B. Burg Foundation Endowed Fellow in Chemistry at the University of Southern California, where he synthesized small molecule dyes and charge transport materials and he developed advanced device engineering concepts for thin-film photovoltaics.  After finishing his PhD, Dr. Schlenker was an NSF SEES Fellow at the University of Washington, studying photoinduced charge transfer and recombination in novel semiconducting polymers with Professor David Ginger in Chemistry and life cycle assessment (LCA) of emerging energy technologies with Professor Joyce Cooper in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at UW.

Sarah Pristash: NSF Graduate Research Fellow

BS in Chemistry, University of Rochester, 2016

Sarah's background is in solar cell device fabrication and spectroscopic measurements of energy-relevant materials. In the Schlenker group, Sarah is studying the molecular photophysics of heavy-atom-free triplet sensitizers.

Emma Cave: UW Clean Energy Institute Graduate Fellow

BS in Chemistry, ​Ursinus College, 2012

Emma’s research background is in the study of double-walled carbon nanotubes as electron acceptors in organic photovoltaic devices. In the Schlenker Group, Emma studies interfacial mechanisms occurring at the electrodes of rechargeable batteries.

Liam Wrigley: UW Clean Energy Institute Graduate Fellow

BA in Nanoscience, Physics and Chemistry of Advanced Materials, Trinity College Dublin, 2016

Liam's  background is in novel solar cell research. In the Schlenker Group, he will be involved developing molecular design rules for photocatalysts based on their photophysical properties.