David Mitzi

Simon Family Distinguished Professor

David Mitzi received his B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Engineering Physics from Princeton University in 1985 and his Ph.D. in Applied Physics from Stanford University in 1990.  Prior to joining the faculty at Duke in 2014, Dr. Mitzi spent 23 years at IBM’s T.J. Watson Research Center, where his focus was on the search for and application of new electronic materials, including organic-inorganic perovskites and inorganic materials for photovoltaic, LED, transistor and memory applications.  For his final five years at IBM, he served as manager for the Photovoltaic Science and Technology Department, where he initiated and managed a multi-company program to develop a low-cost, high-throughput approach to deposit thin-film chalcogenide-based absorber layers for high-efficiency solar cells. Dr. Mitzi’s current research interests involve making emerging photovoltaic materials more effective, cost-efficient and competitive for the energy market. He holds a number of patents, and has authored or coauthored more than 200 papers and book chapters.

Appointments and Affiliations

  • Simon Family Distinguished Professor
  • Professor in the Thomas Lord Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science
  • Professor of Chemistry
  • Faculty Network Member of The Energy Initiative

Contact Information

Education

  • B.S. Princeton University, 1985
  • Ph.D. Stanford University, 1990

Research Interests

Making emerging photovoltaic materials more effective, cost-efficient and competitive for the energy market.

Awards, Honors, and Distinctions

  • Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researcher . Clarivate Analytics. 2021
  • Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researcher . Clarivate Analytics. 2020
  • ACS Award in the Chemistry of Materials. American Chemical Society. 2020
  • Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researcher. Clarivate Analytics. 2019
  • MRS Fellow. Materials Research Society. 2018
  • Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researcher. Clarivate Analytics. 2018

Courses Taught

  • ME 491: Special Projects in Mechanical Engineering
  • ME 494: Engineering Undergraduate Fellows Projects
  • ME 516: Thin-Film Photovoltaic Technology
  • ME 555: Advanced Topics in Mechanical Engineering
  • ME 562: Materials Synthesis and Processing
  • ME 591: Research Independent Study in Mechanical Engineering or Material Science
  • ME 592: Research Independent Study in Mechanical Engineering or Material Science
  • MSEG 591: Independent Study

In the News

Representative Publications

  • Crace, Ethan J., Akash Singh, Stella Haley, Bethany Claes, and David B. Mitzi. “Meltable Hybrid Antimony and Bismuth Iodide One-Dimensional Perovskites.” Inorganic Chemistry, September 2023. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.inorgchem.3c02441.
  • Xie, Yi, Jack Morgenstein, Benjamin G. Bobay, Ruyi Song, Naidel A. M. S. Caturello, Peter C. Sercel, Volker Blum, and David B. Mitzi. “Chiral Cation Doping for Modulating Structural Symmetry of 2D Perovskites.” J Am Chem Soc 145, no. 32 (August 16, 2023): 17831–44. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.3c04832.
  • Song, R., C. Liu, Y. Kanai, D. B. Mitzi, and V. Blum. “Structure and electronic tunability of acene alkylamine based layered hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites from first principles.” Physical Review Materials 7, no. 8 (August 1, 2023). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevMaterials.7.084601.
  • Singh, Akash, Yongshin Kim, Reece Henry, Harald Ade, and David B. Mitzi. “Study of Glass Formation and Crystallization Kinetics in a 2D Metal Halide Perovskite Using Ultrafast Calorimetry.” Journal of the American Chemical Society 145, no. 33 (August 2023): 18623–33. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.3c06342.
  • Kim, Y., H. Hempel, S. P. Harvey, N. A. Rivera, T. Unold, and D. B. Mitzi. “Alkali element (Li, Na, K, and Rb) doping of Cu2BaGe1−xSnxSe4 films.” Journal of Materials Chemistry A 11, no. 28 (June 7, 2023): 15336–46. https://doi.org/10.1039/d3ta01494k.