Education: Ph.D., 2006 — University of California, Irvine B.S., 2000 — Colorado State University

Professor Menke addresses to broad questions through his research:

How does one prepare solar cells that are both cheap and efficient? How does one use these solar cells to create chemical fuels? To address these questions, he uses electrodeposition to prepare a variety of nanostructures to understand how the various properties, such as material, size, shape, and crystallinity, affect either their photovoltaic or catalytic properties.

Somnath Ghosh, Justin E. Hujdic, Alfredo Villicana-Bedolla, and Erik Menke*, Gold Core-Semiconductor Shell Nanowires Prepared by Lithographically Patterned Nanowire Electrodeposition, The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 115 (2011) 17670.[PDF] Justin E. Hujdic, Alan P. Sargisian, Jingru Shao, Tao Ye, and Erik Menke*, High-density gold nanowire arrays by lithographically patterned nanowire electrodeposition, Nanoscale 3 (2011) 2697.[PDF] Grant A. Umeda, Erik Menke, Monique Richard, Kimber L. Stamm, Fred Wudl and Bruce Dunn*, Protection of lithium metal surfaces using tetraethoxysilane, Journal of Materials Chemistry 21 (2011) 1593.[PDF] Justin E. Hujdic, David K. Taggart, Sheng-Chin Kung, and Erik J. Menke*, Lead Selenide Nanowires Prepared by Lithographically Patterned Nanowire Electrodeposition, Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters 1 (2010) 1055.[PDF] Chengxiang Xiang, Michael A. Thompson, Fan Yang, Erik J. Menke, Li-Mei C. Yang, Reginald M. Penner*, Lithographically Patterned Nanowire Electrodeposition, Physica Status Solidi (c) 5 (2008) 5456.[PDF] Filippo Marchioni, Kurt Starr, Erik Menke, Thierry Buffeteau, Laurent Servant, Bruce Dunn, and Fred Wudl, Protection of Lithium Surfaces Using Chlorosilanes, Langmuir 23 (2007) 11597.[PDF] E.J. Menke, M.A. Brown, Q. Li, J.C. Hemminger, and R.M. Penner*, Bismuth Telluride (Bi2Te3) Nanowires: Synthesis by Cyclic Electrodeposition/Stripping, Thinning by Electrooxidation, and Electrical Power Generation, Langmuir 22 (2006) 10564.[PDF] E.J. Menke, M.A. Thompson, C. Xiang, L.C. Yang, and R.M. Penner*, Lithographically Patterned Nanowire Electrodeposition, Nature-Materials 5 (2006) 914.[PDF], [News&Views] by Douglas Natelson. Yeonho Im, Choonsup Lee, Richard P. Vasquez, Mangesh A. Bangar, Nosang V. Myung, Eric J. Menke, Reginald M. Penner and Minhee Yun* Investigation of A Pd Single Nanowire For Use as a Hydrogen Sensor** Small 2 (2006) 356.[PDF] Michael Thompson, Erik J. Menke, C.C. Martens, and Reginald M. Penner*, Shrinking Nanowires by Kinetically-Controlled Electrooxidation, J. Phys. Chem. B 110 (2006) 36.[PDF]