Jonathan A. Malen

Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering

Research

Nanostructured organic-inorganic hybrid materials aim to combine the manufacturability of plastics with the transport properties of semiconductors. Over the last twenty years, researchers focused on electronic applications (e.g. organic electronics), but the field is now expanding to address the challenges of energy demand and climate change.

Nanostructured hybrids are promising replacements for bulk semiconductor photovoltaic and thermoelectric materials because they have controllable feature sizes at length scales characteristic of transport processes.

The use of organic-inorganic nanostructured materials can also unlock new opportunities in mature energy fields, such as thermal energy storage and heat transfer enhancement.

My expertise in heat transfer, nanoscale transport, and organic-inorganic self-assembly is uniquely situated to develop nanostructured hybrid materials that push the limits of energy conversion, storage, and efficiency. Initial projects will include experimental investigation of heat transfer in hybrid thin films using periodic 3-omega and thermoreflectance techniques.

Education

B.S. Mechanical Engineering 2000, University of Michigan

S.M. Nuclear Engineering 2003, MIT

Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering 2009, UC Berkeley

Selected Publications

• “Fundamentals of Energy Transport, Energy Conversion, and Thermal Properties in Organic-Inorganic Heterojunctions”, Malen, J. A., Yee, S. K., Majumdar, A., & Segalman, R. A., Frontiers article for Chemical Physics Letters 491, p. 109-122, May 2010.
• “The Nature of Transport Variations in Molecular Heterojunction Electronics” Malen, J. A., Doak, P., Baheti, K., Tilley, T. D., Segalman, R. A., & Majumdar, A., (2009) Nano Letters 9, 3406-3412.
• “Identifying the Length Dependence of Orbital Alignment and Contact Coupling in Molecular Heterojunctions” Malen, J. A., Doak, P., Baheti, K., Tilley, T. D., Majumdar, A., & Segalman, R. A., (2009) Nano Letters 9, 1164-1169.
• “Probing the Chemistry of Molecular Heterojunctions Using Thermoelectricity”, Baheti, K.*, Malen, J. A.*, Doak, P.*, Reddy, P., Jang, S. Y., Tilley, T. D., Majumdar, A., & Segalman, R. A. (2008) Nano Letters 8, 715-719.
• "Thermal Hydraulic Design of a Hydride-fueled Inverted PWR Core”, Malen, Todreas, Hejzlar, Ferroni, Bergles. Nuclear Engineering and Design, 239 (8), p.1471-1480, Aug 2009.
• “Thermal Hydraulic Analysis for Grid Supported Pressurized Water Reactor Cores”, Shuffler, Trant, Malen, Todreas. Nuclear Engineering and Design, 239 (8), p.1442-1460, Aug 2009.
• “Economic Analysis of Grid and Wire Wrap Supported Hydride and Oxide Fueled PWRs”, C. Shuffler, P. Diller, J. Malen, N. Todreas, E. Greenspan, B. Petrovic. Nuclear Engineering and Design, 239 (8), p.1505-1530, Aug 2009.
• "Hydride Fuel for LWRs – Project Overview", Greenspan, Fratoni, Ganda, Ginex, Olander, Todreas, Diller, Ferroni, Malen, Romano, Shuffler, Trant, Petrovic, Garkisch. Nuclear Engineering and Design, 239 (8), p.1374-1405, Aug 2009.
• “Methanol steam reformer on a silicon wafer”, Park, H. G., Malen, J. A., Piggott, W. T., Morse, J. D., Greif, R., Grigoropoulos, C. P., Havstad, M. A., & Upadhye, R. (2006) Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems 15, 976-985.