Dr. Aaron Franklin received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University in 2008 and then spent six years on the research staff at the IBM T. J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, NY.  He is most widely known for his work on low-dimensional nanoelectronics with specific emphasis on carbon nanotube (CNT) transistors, including device scaling, transport studies, and advanced integration approaches.  While at IBM, Dr. Franklin was involved in many other projects with applications including photovoltaics, thin-film transistors, and supercapacitors.  Dr. Franklin joined the Duke faculty in 2014.

Research in the Franklin group is focused on improving the performance and functionality of nanomaterial-enabled electronic devices.  This includes high-performance devices from low-dimensional materials such as 2D crystals, carbon nanotubes, and nanowires.  Also included is the low-cost realm of printed electronics, which benefits from the incorporation of nanomaterials to enhance electrical transport over large printed features, among other application advantages.  The primary drive of the group's research is to improve performance for all electronic devices, including those with more custom form factors (flexibility, transparency, biocompatibility, etc.).  There are a growing variety of new electronics applications that nanomaterials are uniquely capable of enabling and the Franklin group works to make such applications possible.