Robert Klie, PhD

Robert F. Klie is a Professor and Head of the Physics Department. As the Director of the Nanoscale Physics Group, he specializes in Experimental Condensed Matter Physics. He serves as the Academic Director of the UIC Electron Microscopy Core Facilities and the co-director of the UIC Institute for Functional and Regenerative Materials.

Dr. Klie’s group focusses on atomic-resolution characterization of materials using state-of-the-art in-situ electron microscopy. He pioneered novel characterization approaches combining solid-state physics with bio-materials and polymer science. Dr. Klie was recently awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation to purchase a first-of-its-kind electron microscopy that will enable the next level of materials characterization at UIC for energy-storage/conversion, quantum computing and superconducting materials. 

Dr. Klie has published over 240 peer-reviewed papers with more than 11,000 citations with an h-index of 56. His work has been published in prestigious journals, such as Nature and Science.  Overall, Prof. Klie has given more than 100 invited talks at national and international conferences, and his scientific achievements have been recognized by numerous prestigious awards, including the Brookhaven Goldhaber Distinguished Fellowship and the Microscopy Innovation Award. He is also a Fellow of the Microscopy Society of America.

• “Dynamically Stable Active Sites from Surface Evolution of Perovskite Materials during the Oxygen Evolution Reaction ,” P.P. Lopes, D.Y. Chung, X. Rui, H. Zheng, H.Y. He, P. Martins, D. Strmcnik, V.R. Stamenkovic, P. Zapol, J.F. Mitchell, F. Klie, and N.M. Markovic, Journal of the American Chemical Society, 143(7), 2741-2750 (2021)
• “Chemical and bonding analysis of liquids using liquid cell electron microscopy,” P. Ercius, J.A. Hachtel, F. Klie, MRS Bulletin, 45(9), 761-768 (2020)
• “Machine-learned impurity level prediction for semiconductors: the example of Cd-based chalcogenides,” A. Mannodi-Kanakkithodi, M.Y. Toriyama, F.G. Sen, M.J. Davis, F. Klie, and M.K.Y. Chan, Npj Computational Materials, 6(1), 39 (2020)
• “Covalent surface modifications and superconductivity of two-dimensional metal carbide MXenes,” V. Kamysbayev, A.S. Filatov, H. Hu, X. Rui, F. Lagunas, D. Wang, F. Klie, and D.V. Talapin, Science, 369(6506), 979 (2020)
• “Hydrolyzed Ce(IV) salts limit sucrose-dependent biofilm formation by Streptococcus mutans,” L. Bhatt, L. Chen, J.L. Guo, F. Klie, J.H. Shi, and R.P. Pesavento, Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry, 206, 110997 (2020)
• “Mapping Thermal Expansion Coefficients in Freestanding 2D Materials at the Nanometer Scale,” X. Hu, P. Yasaei, J.R. Jokisaari, S. Ogut, A. Salehi-Khojin, F. Klie, Physical Review Letters, 120 (5), 055902 (2018)
• “A lithium-oxygen battery with a long cycle life in an air-like atmosphere,” M. Asadi, B. Sayahpour, P. Abbasi, A.T. Ngo, K. Karis, J.R. Jokisaari, C. Liu, B. Narayanan, M. Gerard, P. Yasaei, X, Hu, A. Mukherjee, K.C. Lau, R.S. Assary, F. Khalili-Araghi, F. Klie, L.A. Curtiss, A. Salehi-Khojin, Nature, 555 (7697), 502 (2018)
• “Nanostructured transition metal dichalcogenide electrocatalysts for CO₂ reduction in ionic liquid,” M. Asadi, K. Kim, C. Liu, A.V. Addepalli, P. Abbasi, P. Yasaei, P.J. Phillips, A. Behranginia, J.M. Cerrato, R. Haasch, P. Zapol, B. Kumar, F. Klie, J.T. Abiade, L.A. Curtiss, A. Salehi-Khojin, A., Science, 353 (6298), 467-470 (2016)

PhD, Physics (2002), University of Illinois Chicago
BSc, Physics (1998), Kingston University