Professor Tao Wu joined KAUST as an Associate Professor of Material Science and Engineering in 2013. Affiliated with the Solar and Photovoltaics Engineering Research Center, his research interests focus on oxide thin films and nanomaterials. The main applications of his research are in the areas of spintronics, nonvolatile memory, energy harvesting, and sensors.

“Basically we have a dream that we want to build an oxide future. The idea is to move from conventional electronic memory devices and solar cells using silicon to using oxide-based solutions,” said Prof. Wu

"There are many oxides which are very stable and can provide some new properties. Combining this with ferromagnetic property and ferroelectric property with proper band gap will provide us with the right electronic, magnetic and solar properties," he further added.

Using Oxides for Next Generation Devices

While many of these oxides have been studied in the past, there’s a new surge of interest for using oxides to develop the next generation of electronic devices. By using synthesis tools only made available recently, Prof. Wu’s group aims to develop oxide thin film heater structures by putting different materials together on the unicell level. They fabricate new artificial materials by combining multiple payers of material. "It’s not only a matter of material discovery. This is the process of creating new materials, and novel materials, which do not exist in nature," he explained.

Professor Wu uses thin films and nanomaterials to meet challenges in three main technical areas. One area is spintronics. By using proper doping elements to some wide gap oxide materials, it’s possible to tailor the magnetic properties of these materials and make these oxides magnetic. Tiny nanowires can then be introduced in some electronic devices to add magnetic spin into the functionality.

The second area comprises of electric field effect devices. Instead of conventional field effect transistors, Prof. Wu uses oxides as the channel. By using this new technique, it becomes possible to manipulate the magnetic properties and the electronic properties of the material.

The third technical area involves oxide solar cells. “We can harvest the abundant solar energy here in Saudi Arabia using our oxides and materials with tailored band gap and construct what we call new solar cells with tailored band gap and oxides,” he said.

Developing the Research at KAUST

In addition to Saudi Arabia being an ideal environment for solar energy research, Prof. Wu believes that KAUST is an ideal environment for further developing his research. "KAUST different from all the universities in the world," he said. 

In addition to the impressive facilities and excellent research, he was inspired by the University’s vision. "As a faculty member I always remind myself that my duty is to contribute back to this country and also to the people here." As part of his international group, Prof. Wu believes in the importance of recruiting local talent. He currently supervises a Saudi Master’s student who does solar cell research and hopes to bring more locals on board.

He concludes by saying: “I believe this region, and this country, is very important to the world. We need to approach many local students, local scientific communities and local companies to tell them we are here to help and that our research is relevant to the community and to this society. Eventually, this will help develop new technologies which in turn will help the local economy by opening new job opportunities.”

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