Dr. Shankar’s research interests include the growth of nanotube and nanowire arrays in inorganic and organic semiconductors; the characterization of the optoelectronic properties of nanoscale materials; and the use of nanostructured materials to improve the performance of photovoltaic devices, thin film transistors and light emitting diodes. He is also interested in excitonics; colloidal quantum dots, quantum wires and π-conjugated molecules are excitonic semiconductors, due to which the understanding and control of excitonic creation and annihilation, migration, delocalization, coherence and dissociation are of fundamental importance. A major theme of his research is the understanding and exploitation of phenomena unique to nanotube and nanowire arrays, which originate in their spatial configuration, their size confinement and their anisotropy. He is also pursuing applications for semiconducting nanotube and nanowire arrays in catalysis and biology.