Contact information: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory 7000 East Avenue, L-413 Livermore, CA 94550 email: pham16@llnl.gov phone: 925-423-6501 fax: 925-423-5733 Google Scholar profile

Education:

• Ph.D., Chemistry, University of California Davis, 2014.
• Diploma, Condensed Matter Physics, The Abdus Salam ICTP, 2008.
• B. S., Physics, Hanoi National University of Education, Vietnam, 2006.

Research interests:

• Interfacial electrochemistry
• Materials for energy storage and conversion
• Water and aqueous solutions
• Materials degradation & Corrosion science
• Data science & Machine learning

Honors and Awards:

• Directorate Award for Excellence in Publication, Physical and Life Sciences, LLNL, 2021.
• Deputy Director for Science and Technology Excellence in Publication Awards, LLNL, 2018.
• Outstanding Mentor Award, LLNL, 2018.
• Physical & Life Sciences Best Poster Awards, LLNL, 2017.
• PCTC Postdoctoral Fellowship, 2017.
• Lawrence Fellow, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 2014-2017.
• Outstanding Chemistry Dissertation Award, University of California Davis, 2014.
• Lawrence Scholar, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 2011-2014.
• Pre-Doctoral Fellow, International Center for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, Italy, 2007.

Recent publications:

• X. Zhang, B. C. Wood, A. J. E. Rowberg, T. A. Pham, T. Ogitsu, J. Kapaldo, and S. Ptasinska, "Kinetically versus Thermodynamically Controlled Factors Governing Elementary Pathways of GaP(111) Surface Oxidation", (Submitted).
• K. Kim, A. Zagalskaya, J. L. Ng, J. Hong, V. Alexandrov, T. A. Pham, X. Su, "Electrochemically-mediated reactive separation of nitrate to ammonia through bifunctional redox-electrodes", (Submitted).
• P. Xiao, C. Orme, S. R. Qiu, T. A. Pham, S. Cho, M. Bagge-Hansen, and B. C. Wood, "Atomic-scale understanding of oxide growth and dissolution kinetics of Ni/Cr alloys", (Submitted).
• N. Aluru, F. Aydin, M. Z. Bazant, D. Blankschtein, J. P. Souza, M. Elimelech, S. Faucher, J. T. Fourkas, M. Kuehne, H. Li, Z. Li, A. Majumdar, J. Martis, R. P. Misra, A. Noy, T. A. Pham, H. Qu, A. Rayabharam, M. A. Reed, C. L. Ritt, E. Schwegler, Z. Siwy, M. S. Strano, Y. Wang, C. Zhan, and Z. Zhang, "Fluids and Electrolytes under Confinement in Single-Digit Nanopores", (Submitted).
• S. Sharma, A. Zagalskaya, S. E. Weitzner, L. Eggart, S. Cho, T. Hsu, X. Chen, V. Alexandrov, C. A. Orme, T. A. Pham, and B. C. Wood, "Metal Dissolution from First Principles: Energetics, Charge Transfer and Potential Effects", (Submitted).
• Y. Zhu et al., Hydriding of titanium: Recent trends and perspectives in advanced characterization and multiscale modeling, Current Opinion in Solid State & Materials Science (2022).
• T. Hsu, T. A. Pham, N. Keilbart, S. Weitzner, J. Chapman, P. Xiao, S. R. Qiu, X. Chen, and B. C. Wood, Efficient, Interpretable Graph Neural Network Representation for Angle-dependent Properties and its Application to Optical Spectroscopy, npj Computational Materials 8, 151 (2022) .
• J. W. Polster, F. Aydin, P. D. Souza, M. Z. Bazant, T. A. Pham, Z. S. Siwy, Rectified and Salt Concentration Dependent Wetting of Hydrophobic Nanopores, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 144, 11693 (2022).
• S. E. Weitzner, T. A. Pham, and E. Meshot, Theory-augmented informatics of ionic liquid electrolytes for co-design with nanoporous electrode materials, Nanoscale 14, 4922 (2022).
• Y. Xiao, S. Vanka, T. A. Pham, W. J. Dong, Y. Sun, X. Liu, I. A. Navid, J. Varley, H. Hajibabaei, T. W. Hamann, T. Ogitsu, and Z. Mi, Crystallographic Effects of GaN Nanostructures in Photoelectrochemical Reaction, Nano Letters 22, 2236 (2022).
• W. Chen, J. Gu, Q. Liu, M. Yang, C. Zhan, X. Zang, T. A. Pham, G. Liu, W. Zhang, D. Zhang, B. Dunn, Y. M. Wang, Two-dimensional quantum sheet films with sub-1.2 nm channels for ultra-high-rate electrochemical capacitance, Nature Nanotechnology 17, 153 (2022).
• J. C. Fornaciari, L. Weng, S. Alia, C. Zhan, T. A. Pham, A. T. Bell, T. Ogitsu, N. Danilovic, A. Z. Weber, Mechanistic Understanding of pH Effects on the Oxygen Evolution Reaction, Electrochimica Acta 405, 139810 (2022).
• C. L. Ritt, M. Liu, T. A. Pham, R. Epsztein, H. Kulik, M. Elimelech, Machine learning enables the discovery of key ion selectivity mechanisms in Polymeric Membranes, Sci. Adv. 8, eabl5771 (2022).
• S. E. Weitzner, T. A. Pham, C. A. Orme, S. R. Qiu, and B. C. Wood, Beyond thermodynamics: Assessing dynamicalsoftness of hydrated ions from first principles, J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 12, 11980 (2021).
• S. Sen-Britain, N. Keilbart, K. Kweon, T. A. Pham, C. Orme, B. C. Wood, A. J. Nelson, Transformations of Ti-5Al-5V-5Cr-3Mo powders due to recycling in laser powder bed fusion: A surface analytical approach, Appl. Surf. Sci. 564, 150433 (2021).
• T. J. Smart, H. Takenaka, T. A. Pham, L. Z. Tan, J. Z. Zhang, T. Ogitsu, and Y. Ping, Enhancing Defect Tolerance with Ligands at the Surface of Lead Halide Perovskites, J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 12, 6299 (2021).
• D. I. Oyarzun, C. Zhan, M. R. Ceron, H. A. Kuo, S. A. Hawks, C. K. Loeb, F. Aydin, T. A. Pham, M. Stadermann, and P. G. Campbell, Unravelling the ion adsorption kinetics in microporous carbon electrodes: a multi-scale quantum-continuum simulation and experimental approach, ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 13, 23567 (2021).
• C. Zhan, Y. Sun, F. Aydin, M. Y. M. Wang, T. A. Pham, Confinement effects on the solvation structure of solvated alkali metal cations in the 1T-MoS2 channel: A first-principles study, J. Chem. Phys. 154, 164706 (2021).
• F. Aydin, A. Moradzadeh, C. Bilodeau, E. Y. Lau, E. Schwegler, N. R. Aluru, and T. A. Pham, Ion Solvation and Transport in Narrow Carbon Nanotubes: Effects of Polarizability, Cation-pi Interaction and Confinement, J. Chem. Theory Comput. 17, 1596 (2021).
• G. Zeng, T. A. Pham, S. Vanka, G. Liu, C. Song, J. K. Cooper, Z. Mi, T. Ogitsu, and F. M. Toma, Development of a photoelectrochemically self-improving Si/GaN photocathode for efficient and durable H2 production, Nature Materials 20, 1130 (2021).
  • Highlighted by LLNL: Researchers discover unusual property in hydrogen fuel device that could be ultimate guide to self-improvement
  • Highlighted by Berkeley Lab; University of Michigan
• S. F. Buchsbaum, M. L. Jue, A. Sawvel, C. Chen, E. R. Meshot, S. J. Park, M. Wood, K. J. Wu, C. L. Bilodeau, F. Aydin, T. A. Pham, E. Y. Lau, F. Fornasiero, Fast Permeation of Small Ions in Carbon Nanotubes, Advanced Science 8, 2001802 (2021).
• Highlighted by Phys.org & LLNL: Fast transport in carbon nanotube membranes could advance human health
• X. Zhou, Z. Wang, R. Epsztein, C. Zhan, W. Li, J. Fortner, T. A. Pham, J. Kim, and M. Elimelech, Intra-pore Energy Barriers Govern the Selectivity of Desalination Membranes, Science Advances 6, eabd9045 (2020).
• F. Aydin, M. Cerón, S. A. Hawks, D. I. Oyarzun, C. Zhan, T. A. Pham, M. Stadermann, and P. Campbell, Selectivity of Nitrate and Chloride Ions in Microporous Carbons: The Role of Anisotropic Hydration and Applied Potentials, Nanoscale 12, 20292 (2020).
• Y. Li, Z. Li, F. Aydin, J. Quan, X. Chen, Y. Yao, C. Zhan, Y. Chen, T. A. Pham, and A. Noy, Water-Ion Permselectivity of Narrow Diameter Carbon Nanotubes, Science Advances 6, 38, eaba9966 (2020).
• Highlighted by Phys.org & LLNL: Going with the flow for water purification
• T. A. Pham, K. E. Kweon, A. Samanta, M. Ong, V. Lordi and J. Pask, Intercalation of Lithium into Graphite: Insights from First-Principles Simulations, J. Phys. Chem. C 124, 40, 21985 (2020).
• C. Zhan, F. Aydin, E. Schwegler, A. Noy, and T. A. Pham, Understanding Cation Selectivity in Carbon Nanopores with Hybrid First-Principles/Continuum Simulations: Implications for Water Desalination and Separation Technologies, ACS Appl. Nano Mater. 3, 9740 (2020).
• M. Cerón, F. Aydin, S. A. Hawks, D. I. Oyarzun, C. K. Loeb, A. Deinhart, C. Zhan, T. A. Pham, M. Stadermann, and P. Campbell, Cation Selectivity in Capacitive Deionization: Elucidating the Role of Pore Size, Electrode Potential and Ion Dehydration, ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 12, 42644 (2020).
• T. A. Pham, R. M. Coulthard, M. Zobel, A. Maiti, S. F. Buchsbaum, C. Loeb, P. G. Campbell, D. L. Plata, B. C. Wood, F. Fornasiero, and E. R. Meshot, Structural Anomalies and Electronic Properties of an Ionic Liquid under Nanoscale Confinement, J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 11, 6150 (2020).
• Highlighted by Phys.org & LLNL: Diving into the structure of molten salts in tight spaces
• Z. Li, Y. Li, Y. Yao, F. Aydin, C. Zhan, Y. Chen, M. Elimelech, T. A. Pham, and A. Noy, Strong differential monovalent anion selectivity in narrow diameter carbon nanotube porins, ACS Nano, 14, 6269 (2020).
• Highlighted by Phys.org & LLNL: Membrane nanopore transport gets picky
• J. W. Polster, E. T. Acar, F. Aydin, C. Zhan, T. A. Pham, and Z. S. Siwy, Gating of Hydrophobic Nanopores with Large Anions, ACS Nano 14, 4306 (2020).
• Highlighted by Phys.org & LLNL: Controlling ion transport for energy, environment
• V. Rozsa, T. A. Pham, and G. Galli, Molecular polarizabilities as fingerprints of perturbations to water by ions and confinement, J. Chem. Phys, 152, 124501 (2020).
• Highlighted by AIP: Nanoconfinement of salty water results in complex effects
• X. Zhang, T. A. Pham, T. Ogitsu, B. C. Wood, and S. Ptasinskas, Modulation of Surface Bonding Topology: Oxygen Bridges on OH-Terminated InP (001), J. Phys. Chem. C, 124, 3196 (2020).
• F. Aydin, C. Zhan, C. Ritt, R. Epsztein, M. Elimelech, E. Schwegler, and T. A. Pham, Similarities and Differences between Potassium and Ammonium Ions in Liquid Water: A First-Principles Study, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 22, 2540 (2020).
• X. Zhang, T. Ogitsu, B. C. Wood, T. A. Pham, and S. Ptasinskas, Oxidation-Induced Polymerization of InP Surface and Implications for Optoelectronic Applications, J. Phys. Chem. C, 123, 30893 (2019).
• S. Vanka, K. Sun, G. Zeng, T. A. Pham, F. Toma, T. Ogitsu, and Z. Mi, Long-Term Stability Studies of a Semiconductor Photoelectrode Protected by Gallium Nitride Nanostructures, J. Mater. Chem. A, 7, 27612 (2019).
• H. Zeng, V. F. Rozsa, N. X. Nie, J. Z. Zhang, T. A. Pham, G. Galli, and N. Dauphas, Ab Initio Calculation of Equilibrium Isotopic Fractionations of Potassium and Rubidium in Minerals and Aqueous Fluids, ACS Earth Space Chem. 3, 2601 (2019).
• C. Zhan, M. Cerón, S. Hawks, M. Otani, B. Wood, T. A. Pham, M. Stadermann, and P. Campbell, Specific Ion Effects at Graphitic Interfaces, Nature Communications, 10, 4858 (2019).
• Highlighted by LLNL: Size matters in ion selectivity and energy storage
• T. Smart, T. A. Pham, Y. Ping, and T. Ogitsu, Optical Absorption Induced by Small Polaron Formation in Transition Metal Oxides-The Case of Co3O4, Phys. Rev. Mater 3, 102401(R) (2019).
• M. Cerón, C. Zhan, P. Campbell, M. Freyman, C. Santoyo, L. Echegoyen, B. Wood, J. Biener, T. A. Pham and M. Biener, Integration of Fullerene Electron-Acceptors in 3D Graphene Networks: Enhanced Charge Transfer and Stability Through Molecular Design, ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 11, 32 (2019) (Cover Article).
• S. Hawks, M. Cerón, D. I. Oyarzun, T. A. Pham, C. Zhan, C. Loeb, D. Mew, A. Deinhart, B. C. Wood, J. Santiago, M. Stadermann, and P. Campbell, Using Ultramicroporous Carbon for the Selective Removal of Nitrate with Capacitive Deionization, Environ. Sci. Technol, 53, 10863 (2019) (Cover Article).
• Highlighted by LLNL: Freshening up contaminated water
• S. Faucher, N. Aluru, M. Bazant, D. Blankschtein, J. Cumings, M. Elimelech, J. T. Fourkas, H. Kulik, A. Majumdar, C. Martin, T. A. Pham, E. Schwegler, A. Noy, M. Reed, Z. Siwy, Y. Wang, and M. Strano, Critical Knowledge Gaps in Mass Transport Through Single-Digit Nanopores: A Review and Perspective, J. Phys. Chem. C, 123, 35 (2019) (Cover Article).
• Highlighted by LLNL: Use of nanopores could lead to cleaner water
• T. A. Pham, Ab-initio simulations of liquid electrolytes for energy conversion and storage, Int. J. Quantum Chem., 119, e25795 (2019) (Cover Article, Invited Review).
• T. A. Pham, C. Horwood, A. Maiti, V. Peters, T. Bunn, and M. Stadermann, Solvation Properties of Silver and Copper Ions in a Room Temperature Ionic Liquid: A First-Principles Study, J. Phys. Chem. B 122, 12139 (2018).
• C. Zhan, T. A. Pham, M. Otani, D. Jiang, M. R. Ceron, P. G. Campbell, V. Vedharathinam, J. Biener, B. C. Wood, and M. Biener, Origins and Implications of Interfacial Capacitance Enhancements in C60-Modified Graphene Supercapacitors, ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 10, pp 36860 (2018).
• R. H. Tunuguntla, Y. Zhang, R. Y. Henley, Yun-Chiao Yao, T. A. Pham, M. Wanunu, and A. Noy, Response to Comment on “Enhanced water permeability and tunable ion selectivity in subnanometer carbon nanotube porins”, Science 359 (6383), eaaq1241 (2018).
• A. Gaiduk, T. A. Pham, M. Govoni, F. Paesani and G. Galli, Electron Affinity of Liquid Water, Nature Communications 9, 247 (2018)
• Highlighted by ANL: Electrons in the water; UChicago: The early life of an electron in water
• Highlighted by Technology.org; Phys.org; Chem Europe; Science Newsline; EurekAlert
• T. A. Pham, X. Zhang, B. C. Wood, D. Prendergast, S. Ptasinska and T. Ogitsu, Integrating Ab Initio Simulations and X-ray Spectroscopy: Towards A Realistic Description of Oxidized Solid/Liquid Interfaces, J. Phys. Chem. Lett., 9, 194 (2018).
• Highlighted by LLNL: Looking to the sun to create hydrogen fuel
• Highlighted by Technology.org; Phys.org
• T. A. Pham, K. E. Kweon, A. Samanta, V. Lordi and J. Pask, Solvation and Dynamics of Sodium and Potassium in the Ethylene Carbonate Electrolyte from Ab Initio Molecular Dynamics Simulations, J. Phys. Chem. C, 121, 21913 (2017).
• R. H. Tunuguntla, R. Y. Henley, Yun-Chiao Yao, T. A. Pham, M. Wanunu, and A. Noy, Enhanced Water Permeability and Tunable Ion Selectivity in Subnanometer Carbon Nanotube Porins, Science, 357, 792 (2017).
  • Highlighted by LLNL: Carbon nanotubes worth their salt
  • Highlighted by C&EN; Phys.org; TheVerge; NanoWerk; RDMag; ScienceNewsline
• T. A. Pham, M. Govoni, R. Seidel, S. Bradforth, E. Schwegler and G. Galli, Electronic Structure of Aqueous Solutions: Bridging the Gap Between Theory and Experiments, Science Advances, 3, e1603210 (2017).
  • Highlighted by LLNL: Lab scientists explore electronic properties of liquid electrolytes for energy technologies
  • Highlighted by Technology.org; Phys.org
• T. A. Pham, Y. Ping and G. Galli, Modeling Heterogeneous Interfaces for Solar Water Splitting, Nature Materials, 16, 401 (2017).
  • Highlighted by LLNL: Carbon-free energy from solar water splitting
  • Highlighted by Technology.org; Phys.org; NanoTechnologyWorld; DailyEnergyInsider; University of Chicago
• T. A. Pham, T. Ogitsu, E. Y. Lau and E. Schwegler, Structure and dynamics of aqueous solutions from PBE-based first-principles molecular dynamics simulations, J. Chem. Phys, 145, 154501 (2016).
• T. A. Pham, S. M. Mortuza, B. C. Wood, E. Y. Lau, T. Ogitsu, S. Buchsbaum, Z. S. Siwy, F. Fornasiero, and E. Schwegler, Salt Solutions in Carbon Nanotubes: The Role of Cation-pi Interactions, J. Phys. Chem. C, 120, 7332 (2016).
• D. Opalka, T. A. Pham, G. Galli and M. Sprik, Electronic Energy Levels and Band Alignment for Aqueous Phenol and Phenolate from First-Principles, J. Phys. Chem. B, 119, 9651 (2015).
• D. V. Esposito, J. B. Baxter, J. John, N. S. Lewis, T. P. Moffat, T. Ogitsu,G. D. O’Neil, T. A. Pham, A. A. Talin, J. M.Velazquez, B. C. Wood, Methods of Photoelectrode Characterization with High Spatial and Temporal Resolution, Energy Environ. Sci., 8, 2863 (2015).
• T. A. Pham, D. Lee, E. Schwegler and G. Galli, Interfacial effects on the band edges of functionalized Si surfaces in liquid water, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 136, 17071 (2014).
• D. Opalka, T. A. Pham, M. Sprik and G. Galli, The ionization potential of aqueous hydroxide computed using many-body perturbation theory, J. Chem. Phys. 141, 034501 (2014).
• P. Huang, T. A. Pham, G. Galli and E. Schwegler, Alumina(0001)/Water Interface: Structural Properties and Infrared Spectra from First-Principles Molecular Dynamics Simulations, J. Phys. Chem. C 118, 8944 (2014).
• T. A. Pham, C. Zhang, E. Schwegler and G. Galli, Probing the electronic structure of liquid water with many-body perturbation theory, Phys. Rev. B: Rapid Comm. 89, 060202(R) (2014).
• T. A. Pham, T. Li, Huy-Viet Nguyen, S. Shankar, F. Gygi and G. Galli, Band offset and dielectric properties of the amorphous Si3N4/Si(001) interface: a first-principles study, Appl. Phys. Lett. 102, 241603 (2013).
• C. Zhang, T. A. Pham, F. Gygi and G. Galli, Electronic structure of the solvated chloride anion from first principles molecular dynamics, J. Chem. Phys. 138, 181102 (2013).
• T. A. Pham, Huy-Viet Nguyen, D. Rocca and G. Galli, GW calculations using the spectral decomposition of the dielectric matrix: Verification, validation, and comparison of methods, Phys. Rev. B 87, 155148 (2013).
• A. Kaur, E. R. Ylvisaker, D. Lu, T. A. Pham, G. Galli and W. E. Pickett, Spectral representation analysis of dielectric screening in solids and molecules, Phys. Rev. B 87, 155144 (2013).
• T. A. Pham, P. Huang, E. Schwegler and G. Galli, First-Principles Study of the Infrared Spectra of the Ice Ih (0001) Surface, J. Phys. Chem. A 116, 9255 (2012)
• Huy-Viet Nguyen, T. A. Pham, D. Rocca and G. Galli, Improving accuracy and efficiency of calculations of photoemission spectra within many-body perturbation theory, Phys. Rev. B: Rapid Comm. 85, 081101(R) (2012)
• T. A. Pham, T. Li, S. Shankar, F. Gygi and G. Galli, Microscopic modeling of the dielectric properties of silicon nitride, Phys. Rev. B, 84, 045308 (2011).
• T. A. Pham, T. Li, S. Shankar, F. Gygi and G. Galli, First principles investigations of the dielectric properties of crystalline and amorphous Silicon Nitride thin films, Appl. Phys. Lett. 96, 062902 (2010)
• T. A. Pham, R. Gebauer and S. Scandolo, Magnetism and Vibrations in the phase epsilon of Oxygen, Solid State Communications 149, 160 (2009)
• T. A. Pham, V. Hung Nguyen and V. Lien Nguyen, Phonon-assisted tunneling and shot noise in double barrier structures in a longitudinal magnetic field, Phys. Lett. A, 372, 4947 (2008)
• V. Hung Nguyen, V. Lien Nguyen and T. A. Pham, Current and shot noise in double barrier resonant tunneling structures in a longitudinal magnetic field, Phys. Rev. B, 76, 235326 (2007)