Realizing electromagnetic metamaterials which operate in the optical regime requires creating precise arrangements of sub-100 nm building blocks. As such, fabricating these materials using conventional lithographic methods is extremely costly. On the other hand, bottom-up assembly of nanoparticles into crystalline superlattices offers opportunities to explore the scalable fabrication of 2-...
Semiconductor nanocrystals possess unique photophysical properties that make them desirable for many optoelectronic applications such as photovoltaics, LEDs, and quantum computing. When the size of a semiconductor is reduced to below the excitonic Bohr radius of the material, its carriers becomes quantum confined resulting in drastic changes to optical, electronic,...
The demand for low cost, unconventional electronics requires new materials with unique characteristics that the traditionally used silicon-based technologies cannot provide. Metal oxide semiconductors, such has amorphous indium gallium zinc oxide (a-IGZO), have made impressive strides as alternatives to amorphous silicon for electronics applications. However, to achieve the full potential...
Soft functional materials are fundamentally interesting from a chemistry standpoint and have exciting applications in robotics, chemical and biomolecule sensing, and biomedical engineering. In addition, soft materials are also useful in lithography, particularly cantilever-free scanning probe lithography (CFSPL). Because of their low modulus, biocompatibility, stimuli responsiveness, malleability, and other characteristics,...
Among the most valuable applications of organometallic chemistry is its implementation in the field of catalysis. Many industrial processes rely heavily on catalysis, employing organometallic complexes in the production of commodity chemicals, fine chemicals, materials, and even in the discovery and development of pharmaceuticals. Through decades of intense study, homogeneous...
In an era of personalized medicine, the clinical community has become increasingly focused on understanding diseases at the cellular and molecular level. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a powerful imaging modality for acquiring anatomical and functional information. However, it has limited applications in field of molecular imaging due to low...
Two-dimensional (2D) hybrid halide perovskites have been the response to their exciting but woefully unstable 3D counterparts. These 2D perovskites have been shown to have respectable stabilities as photovoltaic absorbers, yet they lag behind the 3D perovskites in terms of efficiency. With the need to catch up to the efficiencies...
The ubiquitous role of water in biochemical, electrochemical, and geochemical systems has driven scientific interest in studying the fundamental hydrogen-bonding interactions that water molecules exhibit in the presence of different materials.Specifically, we focus on the interactions characterizing water at the interface between two bulk media, as these are essential to...
This work examines important heterogeneous processes of organic molecules on surfaces, in the contexts of atmospheric and indoor environments. In large forest ecosystems, biogenic secondary organic aerosols (SOAs) constitute a dominant fraction of organic particulate matter in the atmosphere. The formation of SOAs starts from the emission of volatile organic...
The translation of proteins as effective intracellular drug candidates is limited by the challenge of cellular entry and their vulnerability to degradation. To advance their therapeutic potential, cell-impermeable proteins can be readily transformed into protein spherical nucleic acids (ProSNAs) or encapsulated into liposomal spherical nucleic acids (L-SNAs), structures defined by...