Rate My Professor Patrick Pinhero

Pinhero's research employs material interfaces to understand, control, and regulate chemical processes. His research groups develop nanoantenna arrays for solar energy collection via interfacial molecular assembly, special ballistic self-curing lubricants, and molecularly-assembled nanoalloys. Additional efforts include pyro-electrometallurgical techniques to segregate elements from spent nuclear fuels for recycling into light water and breeder reactor systems, alongside characterizing structural alloy stability using autoclaves, electrochemistry, and surface science. His scholarship has garnered over 1,444 citations, with prominent publications such as "Theory and manufacturing processes of solar nanoantenna electromagnetic collectors" (2010), "Solar nantenna electromagnetic collectors" (2008), "Pt/TiO2 (rutile) catalysts for sulfuric acid decomposition in sulfur-based thermochemical water-splitting cycles" (2008), "Electrodeposition of copper for three-dimensional metamaterial fabrication" (2017), and early contributions like "Fivefold surface of quasicrystalline AlPdMn: Structure determination using low-energy-electron diffraction" (1998). He holds US Patent 8,071,931 for "Structures, systems and methods for harvesting energy from electromagnetic radiation" (2011). During his tenure at the Idaho National Laboratory, Pinhero's team received two NASA Tech Briefs Nano 50 awards for infrared energy harvesting technology, leading him to co-found RedWave Energy Inc. for rectenna prototype development with US Department of Energy funding. Pinhero contributed to university service as Co-Chair of the Campus Budget Committee, Executive Committee member of the Faculty Council, and on committees including Academic Affairs Inter-semester Subcommittee and COACHE Faculty Job Satisfaction. He has mentored PhD students awarded NSF Graduate Research Fellowships.