Dr. Jacobs' current and near-term research interests combine mechanical testing with in situ, high-resolution electron microscopy techniques to make fundamental contributions in three thrust areas:
(1) investigating the mechanics of interfacial contact in emerging nanoscale applications, including understanding the connections between contact mechanics and functional properties, such as electrical contact resistance;
(2) exploring deformation and failure in nanoscale materials for extreme environments, such as those in next-generation energy applications; and
(3) interrogating differences in mechanical properties between crystalline and disordered systems, with the particular focus on disentangling differences due to structure from those due to chemistry.
"Nanoscale wear as a stress-assisted chemical reaction," Tevis D. B. Jacobs & Robert W. Carpick, Nature Nanotechnology 8, 108 (2013)
"The Effect of Atomic-Scale Roughness on the Adhesion of Nanoscale Asperities: A Comb," Tevis D. B. Jacobs, Kathleen E. Ryan, Pamela L. Keating, David S. Grierson, Joel A. Lefever, Kevin T. Turner, Judith A. Harrison, Robert W. Carpick, Tribol Lett 50, 81 (2013)
"On the Application of Transition State Theory to Atomic-Scale Wear," Tevis D. B. Jacobs, Bernd Gotsmann, Mark A. Lantz, Robert W. Carpick, Tribol Lett 39, 25 (2010)
"Wear-Resistant Diamond Nanoprobe Tips with Integrated Silicon Heater for Tip-Based Nanomanufacturing," Patrick C. Fletcher, Jonathan R. Felts, Zhenting Dai, Tevis D. Jacobs, ACS Nano 4, 3338 (2010)
"Quantitative Characterization of Surface Typography Using Sprectral Analysis" TDB Jacobs, T Junge, L Pastewka Surface Topography: Metrology and Properties 5 (1), 013001
"Covalent bonding and atomic-level plasticity increase adhesion in silicon-diamond nanocontacts," Milne, Zachary, J. David Schall, Tevis DB Jacobs, Judith A. Harrison, and Robert W. Carpick. ACS applied materials & interfaces (2019).
"Matching atomistic simulations and in situ experiments to investigate the mechanics of nanoscale contact," Vishnubhotla, Sai Bharadwaj, Rimei Chen, Subarna R. Khanal, Xiaoli Hu, Ashlie Martini, and Tevis DB Jacobs. Tribology Letters 67, no. 3 (2019): 97.
"Linking energy loss in soft adhesion to surface roughness," Dalvi, Siddhesh, Abhijeet Gujrati, Subarna R. Khanal, Lars Pastewka, Ali Dhinojwala, and Tevis DB Jacobs. arXiv preprint arXiv:1907.12491 (2019).
"Insights into tribology from in situ nanoscale experiments," TDB Jacobs, C Greiner, KJ Wahl, and RW Carpick. MRS Bulletin 44.6 (2019)
"Computational model of shoe wear progression: Comparison with experimental results," SRM Moghaddam, SL Hemler, MS Redfern, TDB Jacobs, and KE Beshorner. Wear 422 (2019)