His research is at the intersection of materials science and electrochemistry, with a focus on fundamental aspects of energy conversion and storage.

He has been named a DuPont Young Professor, a Cottrell Scholar, a Sloan Fellow, and a Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar.

[1] An ISI highly cited researcher (top 0.1% over past decade), in 2019, he founded the Oregon Center for Electrochemistry[2] and, in 2020, launched the nation's first targeted graduate program in electrochemical technology.

[13] He completed postdoctoral work at the California Institute of Technology as a Kavli Nanoscience Institute Prize Postdoctoral Fellow working with Prof. Nathan Lewis (Chemistry) and Prof. Harry Atwater (Applied Physics) studying three-dimensional semiconductor architectures for solar photoelectrochemical and photovoltaic applications.

In the spring of 2012, a profile appeared on Boettcher's work, his background, and perspective in The Oregon Quarterly.