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

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. 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 592: Research Independent Study in Mechanical Engineering or Material Science
  • ME 591: Research Independent Study in Mechanical Engineering or Material Science
  • ME 562: Materials Synthesis and Processing
  • ME 555: Advanced Topics in Mechanical Engineering
  • ME 516: Thin-Film Photovoltaic Technology
  • ME 492: Special Projects in Mechanical Engineering
  • ME 491: Special Projects in Mechanical Engineering
  • EGR 393: Research Projects in Engineering
  • ECE 391: Projects in Electrical and Computer Engineering

In the News

Representative Publications

  • Wang, Sasa, Yujie Zhang, P Shiv Halasyamani, and David B. Mitzi. “Chirality and Solvent Coassist the Structural Evolution of Hybrid Manganese Chlorides with Second-Harmonic-Generation Response.” Inorganic Chemistry 63, no. 35 (September 2024): 16121–27. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.inorgchem.4c02588.
  • Singh, Akash, Damara Dayton, Dylan M. Ladd, Guy Reuveni, Piotr Paluch, Lionel Montagne, Julian Mars, et al. “Local Structure in Crystalline, Glass and Melt States of a Hybrid Metal Halide Perovskite.” Journal of the American Chemical Society, September 2024. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.4c07411.
  • Xie, Yi, Gabrielle Koknat, Nicholas J. Weadock, Xiaoping Wang, Ruyi Song, Michael F. Toney, Volker Blum, and David B. Mitzi. “Hydrogen Bonding Analysis of Structural Transition-Induced Symmetry Breaking and Spin Splitting in a Hybrid Perovskite Employing a Synergistic Diffraction-DFT Approach.” Journal of the American Chemical Society 146, no. 32 (August 2024): 22509–21. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.4c06287.
  • Xie, Y., H. Hewa-Walpitage, J. Morgenstein, V. Blum, Z. V. Vardeny, and D. B. Mitzi. “Homochiral and Heterochiral Cation Mixing in 2D Perovskites for Enhanced Structural Asymmetry and Spin Splitting.” ACS Materials Letters 6, no. 7 (July 1, 2024): 3161–67. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsmaterialslett.4c00558.
  • Yan, L., Y. Xie, D. B. Mitzi, P. C. Sercel, A. J. Phillips, J. L. Blackburn, and W. You. “Giant Apparent Optical Circular Dichroism in Thin Films of Bismuth-Based Hybrid Organic–Inorganic Metal Halide Semiconductor Through Preferred Orientation.” Advanced Optical Materials 12, no. 13 (May 6, 2024). https://doi.org/10.1002/adom.202302766.