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 300 papers and book chapters.

Appointments and Affiliations

  • Simon Family Distinguished Professor
  • Professor in the Thomas Lord Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science
  • Executive Director of the Shared Materials Instrumentation Facility
  • Professor of Chemistry

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. 2024
  • Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researcher . Clarivate Analytics. 2023
  • Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researcher . Clarivate Analytics. 2022
  • 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

  • MSEG 591: Independent Study
  • ME 591: Research Independent Study in Mechanical Engineering or Material Science
  • ME 562: Materials Synthesis and Processing
  • ME 516: Thin-Film Photovoltaic Technology
  • ME 492: Special Projects in Mechanical Engineering
  • ME 491: Special Projects in Mechanical Engineering
  • ME 392: Undergraduate Projects in Mechanical Engineering
  • EGR 393: Research Projects in Engineering
  • ECE 493: Projects in Electrical and Computer Engineering
  • ECE 391: Projects in Electrical and Computer Engineering

In the News

Representative Publications

  • McConnell, A., S. Wang, A. Grieder, Y. Ping, D. B. Mitzi, and D. Sun. “Coexisting Rashba/Dresselhaus Spin Splitting in Solution-Processed Bournonite Films Using Circular Photogalvanic Effect.” Advanced Functional Materials 36, no. 29 (April 9, 2026). https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202521735.
  • Phillips, A. J., N. Hight-Huf, R. Chakraborty, O. G. Reid, D. B. Mitzi, V. Blum, P. C. Sercel, and J. L. Blackburn. “Thermally Activated Circularly Polarized Photoluminescence in a 2D Hybrid Perovskite with Giant Spin Splitting.” Advanced Functional Materials 36, no. 22 (March 16, 2026). https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202517358.
  • Chakraborty, Rayan, Benjamin Bobay, Xixi Qin, Volker Blum, and David B. Mitzi. “Local Symmetry Breaking in 3D Hybrid Perovskites with 3-Hydroxyazetidinium.” Journal of the American Chemical Society 148, no. 9 (March 2026): 9720–28. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.5c21300.
  • McKeown Wessler, Garrett C., Tianlin Wang, Colin Brown, Gabriel J. Graf, Yi Yao, Akash Singh, Volker Blum, and David B. Mitzi. “Hydrothermal Synthesis and Electronic and Optical Characterization of Ag2(NH4)AsS4.” Inorganic Chemistry 65, no. 9 (March 2026): 4901–12. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.inorgchem.5c04606.
  • Almora, O., A. O. Alvarez, D. Baran, C. I. Cabrera, L. A. Castriotta, B. Ehrler, S. Erten-Ela, et al. “Device Performance of Emerging Photovoltaic Materials (Version 6).” Advanced Energy Materials 16, no. 7 (February 18, 2026). https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.202505525.