| Douglas Keszler | |
| Nationality: | American |
| Field: | Chemistry |
| Work Institution: | Oregon State University |
| Alma Mater: | Southwestern Oklahoma State University (B.S.) (1979) Northwestern University (Ph.D) (1984) |
| Doctoral Advisor: | James A. Ibers |
| Known For: | Material Chemistry Inorganic Chemistry |
Douglas A. Keszler is a distinguished professor in the Department of Chemistry at Oregon State University, adjunct professor in the Physics Department at OSU and adjunct professor in the Department of Chemistry at University of Oregon. He is also the director of the Center for Sustainable Materials Chemistry, and a member of the Oregon Nanoscience and Microtechnologies Institute (ONAMI) leadership team.[1]
Keszler received his BS at Southwestern Oklahoma State University in 1979.[2] He worked on his PhD in Northwestern University under the supervision of Prof. James A. Ibers and received his degree in 1984. He continued his career as a postdoctoral fellow at Cornell University under the supervision of Prof. Roald Hoffmann in 1984–1985.[3]
Keszler joined the faculty of Oregon State University in 1985 as an assistant professor. He became an associate professor in 1990, professor in 1995 and distinguished professor in 2006.[4]
Some of Keszler’s early work shows the importance of his research in material science for application purposes. For example, in 2002, he worked on thin-film electroluminescent devices which display high definition monochromic color outputs, and developing them to display a full range of color. They specifically focused on phosphor Zn1-3x/2GaxS:Mn and strontium sulfide codoped with copper and potassium powders which was observed to have identical emission properties as thin films. Essentially by codoping, the band gap length of a material can be tuned so that the color of the light can be adjusted. The light itself is emitted when excited electrons in the conduction band fall back down to the valence band. By manipulating the properties of crystal and defect chemistry, any color can be portrayed for display.[5] Keszler has also developed a convenient method for solid synthesis. In 2001, he demonstrated a hydrothermal dehydration technique of precipitates which avoids formation of amorphous products that are created through the conventional drying process of heating. Through this method, he showed the formation of Zn2SiO4 and SnSiO3. This technique has allowed for development of materials such as powders, thin films, and luminescent materials.[6]
In 2000, Douglas Keszler and his colleagues worked with non-linear optical materials such as Ca4GdO(BO3)3(GdCOB). They measured the Raman spectra of Ca4GdO(BO3)3(GdCOB) which was grown using the Czochralski method. This experiment was done to ultimately understand the spectroscopic features of Yb3+ and Nd3+ by analyzing vibrations of two different types of (BO3)3− groups.[7]