Mizzou professor Deepak Singh and his students are driven by a shared passion to study the internal structures of materials and a collective interest to push the future of consumer electronics forward.

NOTE: this article originally appeared in Show Me Mizzou on 12/3/2024. Shared here with permission from the author.

Dec. 3, 2024
Contact: Eric Stann, 573-882-3346, StannE@missouri.edu
Photos by Abbie Lankitus

In the next 10-20 years, spintronics, or "spin electronics," could make smartphones and other devices better by improving performance, increasing storage and extending battery life.

Traditional electronics use the electrical charge of electrons to store and process information. Spintronics, on the other hand, also uses the natural spin of electrons. Before engineers can use spintronics in electronic gadgets, though, scientists need to understand how it works.

That’s where University of Missouri experts come in.

“If you want your cell phone to work more efficiently — like 700 hours on one charge instead of just seven hours — then it needs to be a spintronic device,” said Deepak Singh, a professor in Mizzou’s Department of Physics. “Spintronics have a huge advantage over traditional silicon-based electronics because they have longer battery life and can dissipate energy slowly over time.”

Singh and a team of researchers at Mizzou are working to help the electronics industry start using spintronics in everyday devices. Recently, the group made an exciting discovery finding magnetic properties in nickel monosilicide (NiSi), a material commonly used in the manufacturing of traditional electronics from smartphones to medical equipment.

“NiSi exhibits interesting electrical and magnetic properties which are suitable for creating spintronic devices,” Singh said. “While many materials currently exist for creating spintronics, most of them are artificially designed, which makes it difficult for them to be mass-produced. NiSi has an advantage because it is naturally grown and can be easily mass-produced. I am optimistic that our research on NiSi will create significant impact.”

A valuable experience

Pousali Ghosh, a Mizzou graduate student pursuing a Doctor of Philosophy in condensed matter and materials physics, joined Singh’s research group after taking a class on magnetism with him. The class provided Ghosh with her first opportunity to experience the power of the Missouri Method — Mizzou’s philosophy of hands-on learning.

“The class showed me what research looks like in a real-life lab rather than just being taught those subjects inside a classroom,” Ghosh said. “We were able to explore what academic research looks like nowadays, such as how materials are chosen, how materials behave in different ways and the fundamental physics used today to study materials.”

As a graduate teaching assistant in Singh’s lab over the past five years, Ghosh has found the experience to be both challenging and rewarding.

“I have grown both personally and professionally during my time in Dr. Singh’s lab,” Ghosh said. “While the work can be difficult at times, it’s exciting because we have the potential to make significant discoveries for our field.”

In the lab, Ghosh values the freedom to explore her own ideas and appreciates being able to ask Singh for help when needed. For instance, Ghosh had a new idea for growing a single crystal of nickel silicide so she could test the material’s magnetism. Unsure if her idea would work, she shared it with Singh. He encouraged her to move forward with her idea and offered to help with any future steps if she needed it.

Ghosh said the experience has allowed her to push herself outside of her comfort zone.

“At the beginning, my first instinct was typically to repeat certain things, and I was afraid to try new ideas because I didn’t know how they would work,” Ghosh said. “But then with Dr. Singh’s guidance, I have been able to embrace new challenges, take bold risks and explore unfamiliar ground.”

Empowering success

After more than a decade teaching and researching at Mizzou, Singh is thankful for each of the students in his research group.

“I’m lucky to have great, hardworking students who work together with me to advance our field,” he said. “And they know I’m also here to provide them with support and guidance when asked.”

Singh believes the university continues to play a crucial role in all his group’s research endeavors, including a two-dimensional nanoscopic honeycomb magnet developed to increase the lifespan of battery-operated electronics.

“Mizzou has provided me with the necessary research infrastructure and a wonderful collegial environment,” Singh said. “Without the research infrastructure and support from colleagues, staff and students here at Mizzou, it would not have been possible. And all my students have ended up publishing multiple papers in high-impact journals and getting good jobs after graduation. There are many things you need to be successful, and Mizzou provides just that.”