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Hemali Rathnayake

Hemali Rathnayake

Hemali Rathnayake, Ph.D.

About Professor Rathnayake

Curriculum Vitae

PDF Version, March 2022

About Hemali Rathnayake

Dr. Rathnayake’s research work has contributed to the field of optoelectronic devices, particularly for the development of organic light emitting diodes, which are nowadays using in flat panel displays. Dr. Rathnayake’s work has been published in highly rated peer-reviewed journals such as Nanoscale, Macromolecules, Chemistry of Materials, the Journal of Material Chemistry, RSC Advances, and the New Journal of Chemistry. Her research has received ~ $3.5 million in funding including recent awards from the NASA NC Space Consortium and the Department of Defense. Her service to UNCG includes: University Grievance committee, Research Policies Committee, Scholarly Communication Committee, and in the past as the Department Director of Graduate Studies.

Recent and Selected Publications

  1. Hemali Rathnayake and Gayani Pathiraja, Ultrathin metal hydroxide/oxide nanowires: Crystal growth, self-assembly, and fabrication for optoelectronic applications, Nanostructured Materials – Classification, Growth, Simulation, Characterization, and Devices (Book), 2021, ISBN: 978-1-80355-085-5, DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.101117.
  2. Sheeba Dawood, Surabhi Shaji, Gayani Pathiraja, Yirong Mo, and Hemali Rathnayake, Molecuar magnetism in Nnaodomains of Isoreticular MIL-88(Fe)-MOFs, Chem. Chem. Phys., 2021, https://doi.org/10.1039/D1CP03122H
  3. Pravalika Butreddy, Selina Laws, Premitha Pansalawatta, Eric Laws, and Hemali Rathnayake, Supremolecular Chemistry of Folic Acid – Experimental and Computational Investigation, Biophysical Reviews & Letters, 2021, 16 (03), 95-109, https://doi.org/10.1142/S1793048021500053
  4. Brandon Inscoe, Hemali Rathnayake, and Yirong Mo, Role of Charge Transfer in Halogen Bonding, Journal of Physical Chemistry A, 2021, 125 (14), 2944.
  5. Sujoy Saha, Sheeba Dawood, Pravalika Butreddy, Gayani Pathiraja, and Hemali Rathnayake, Novel biodegradable low-k dielectric nanomaterials from natural polyphenols, RSC Advances 2021, 11, 16698.
  6. Sean Johnson, Rabin Pokharel, Michael Lowe1, Hirandeep Kuchoor, Surya Nalamati1, Klinton Davis, Hemali Rathnayake & Shanthi Iyer, Study of patterned GaAsSbN nanowires using sigmoidal model, Nature Scientific Reports 2021, 11, 4651. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-9.
  7. Hemali Rathnayake, Jamel White, and Sheeba Dawood, Polysilsesquioxane-based organic-inorganic hybrid nanomaterials and their applications towards organic photovoltaics, Synthetic Metals 2021, 273, 116705. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.synthmet.2021.116705.
  8. Hemali Rathnayake, Sujoy Saha, Sheeba Dawood, Shane Loeffler, and Joseph Starobin, Analytical Approach to Screen Semiconducting MOFs Using Bloch Mode Analysis and Spectroscopic Measurements, Phys. Chem. Lett. 2021, DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.0c03401.
  9. Hemali Rathnayake, Gayani Pathiraja, and Daniel Herr “Novel approach to sub-5-nm patterning platforms: the self-assembly of metal conjugated bio-inspired molecules”, Proc. SPIE 10958, Novel Patterning Technologies for Semiconductors, MEMS/NEMS, and MOEMS 2019, 1095811, 5 June 2019; https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2518995
  10. Sheeba Dawood, Ryan Yarbrough, and Hemali Rathnayake, “Self-Assembly and Optoelectronic Properties of Isoreticular MOF Nanocrystals”, Synthetic Metals, 2019, 252, 107-112.
  11. Klinton Davis and Hemali Rathnayake, “Band Gap Engineered Zinc Oxide Nanostructures via a Sol-Gel Synthesis of Solvent Driven Shape-Controlled Crystal Growth”, RSC Advances, 2019, 9, 14638-14648.
  12. Matthew Hawkins, Sujoy Saha, Ezhakudiyan Ravindran, and Hemali Rathnayake, “A Sol-Gel Polymerization for Creating Polyimide Nanostructures as Soft Dielectric Materials, J.Poly.Sci. A, 2019, 57(4), 562-571, DOI: 10.1002/pola.29295.
  13. Marzieh Moradi, Bailey M Woods, Hemali Rathnayake, Stuart J Williams, and Gerold A Willing, “Effect of functionalization on the properties of silsesquioxane: a comparison to silica”, J. of. Colloid and Polymer Science 2019, 297 (5), 697-704.
  14. S. J. Ananthakrishnan, J. Strain, S. Sahare, M. Venkataramana, M. Jahan, and H. Rathnayake, “Precise Control in Photovoltaic Response of Poly(3-hexylthiophen e):Fullerene Solar Cells via Accelerated-Solvent Vapor Annealing”, Sci. Adv. Today, 2018, 4, 25279.
  15. John R. Bertram, Aubrey Penn, Matthew J. Nee, and Hemali Rathnayake, “A Novel n-Type Organosilane-Metal Ion Hybrid of Rhodamine B and Copper Cation for Low-Temperature Thermoelectric Materials”, ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 2017, 9, 10946-10954.

Honors & Awards

  • UNCG Junior Research Excellence Award 2021/22, Office of Provost, UNCG.
  • An Honoree for Faculty Excellence in Research and Creative Activity, 2020, Office of Provost, UNCG
  • An Honoree for Faculty Excellence in Research and Creative Activity, 2019, Office of Provost, UNCG
  • UNCG 2018 College Level Teaching Excellence Award, 2018, Office of Provost, UNCG
  • An Honoree for Faculty Excellence in Research and Creative Activity, 2018, Office of Provost, UNCG
  • Nominated for the Ogden College Faculty Award for Research and Creativity, January 2015, Western Kentucky University.
  • Most Prolific Proposer Award by the College for the fiscal year 2014 from the Office of Research, December 2014, Western Kentucky University.
  • First Time Awardee Recognition for the fiscal year 2013 from the Office of Research, December 2013, Western Kentucky University
  • Most Prolific Proposer by College Award for the fiscal year 2013 from the Office of Research, December 2013, Western Kentucky University.
  • Junior Investigator Award for the fiscal year 2013 from the Office of Research, December 2013, Western Kentucky University.
  • In Recognition of Significant Progress Towards Commercialization from the Office of Research, November 2012, Western Kentucky University.
  • Nominated for the Ogden College Faculty Award for Research and Creativity, January 2012, Western Kentucky University.
  • Nominated for the Ogden College Faculty Award for student advisement, January 2010, Western Kentucky University.
  • Bucks for Bright Ideas Award from Small Business Accelerator and the Center Region Innovation and Commercialization, 2010, Bowling Green, Ky.

Classes Taught

  • NAN 601
  • NAN 611
  • NAN 705

Scholarly and Professional Keywords

Renewable energy, Energy harvesting and storage, Environmental Chemistry, Optoelectronic devices