West Virginia University

Lewis Group Home

 

Welcome to the home page of the Lewis research group in the Department of Physics at West Virginia University.This group is headed by Prof. James P. Lewis.

**Check out the Multifunctional Nanomaterials International Symposium page.**

**New Page: NSF Director Visits WVU**

Our group conducts theoretical and computational research in condensed-matter and material physics. We focus on theoretical basis and applications for which the relevant physics takes place at the atomic scale, in which regime it is usually necessary to treat the atomic interactions using quantum mechanics. Our approach is to study materials within first principles within the quantum-mechanical framework of Density Functional Theory (DFT), using highly efficient, state-of-the-art computational code - FIREBALL. In addition, we use variety of techniques for studying the dynamical behavior of materials, including lattice dynamics, electron-hole recombination, and molecular dynamics.

Our research interests cover a broad range of materials and phenomena, including:

  • band structures and electronic properties of metal-oxide

  • semiconductor, nanoparticles, and nanotubes

  • electronic structures and properties of bio-molucars and bio-catalysts

  • molecular-surface interaction

  • energy exchange processes

  • photo-catalysis reactions

 

The enzyme responsible for the dehydration synthesis of acetylcholine(ACH), acetylcholinesterase(ACHE), is of particular interest in modern biophysics and biochemical research. The electronic band structure that we generated using FIREBALL indicates that the periodic poly (A)-poly (T) is a semi conductor with a band gap of 2.7 eV. Semiconducting nanorystals are of scientific interest in a variety of technical fields in the ability to tune them absorb or emit electromagnetic radiation at a desired wavelength not only by changing their composition but, more importantly by changing their size. The peptide nanotubes are made from two types of amino acid residues: L-amino acid residues and D-amino acid residues. L-type naturally occurs, but D-type does not.