Tags: Materials Chemistry and Nanoscience Seminar

Developing catalysis platforms for efficient chemical transformations requires either building upon useful empirical evidence or studying unexplored design spaces. Importantly, both approaches benefit from merging different research fields to solve new challenges. Here, I will discuss how materials design parameters can be applied to molecular electrocatalysts in the form of porous supramolecules to mimic confined enzyme/nanomaterial catalysis.…

Targeted design of electronic and magnetic properties in novel materials remains a critical bottleneck in the development of many next-generation electrical and electrochemical devices. In this talk, I will describe how the principles of molecular inorganic chemistry can be applied to systematically engineer materials hosting a diverse range of desired properties. First, I will discuss a family of redox-active metal–organic frameworks, in which…

The transition to a sustainable future requires innovative approaches in materials design, utilization, and recycling. In this talk, I will discuss two advancements at the intersection of polymer chemistry and sustainability: the development of metal-chelating polymers for rare-earth element (REE: La–Lu, Y, and Sc) extraction, and the synthesis of chemically recyclable polymers. First, I will present our work on polymers for the selective…

The pursuit of next-generation materials to address the energy and sustainability crisis hinges on hybrid crystalline systems, particularly layered lattices with well-defined organic-inorganic interfaces. These materials harness the vast chemical space of organics and the superior electronic, photonic, or catalytic performance of inorganics, making the assembly tunable and solution processable. While organic sublattices play crucial roles…

Climate change and global air pollution are the world’s two most serious issues. Negative carbon and polluted air capture are critical strategies for addressing rising CO2 and air pollution levels. State-of-the-art materials design at the atomic level is in high demand, and their fundamental mechanism must be revealed using cutting-edge microscopic and spectroscopic methodologies. As a result, the utilization of sustainable materials (e.g. wood…

Semi-aromatic polyesters derived from petroleum are an important class of polymers that encompass a wide variety of thermal and mechanical properties. Unfortunately, replacing the aromatic component with cost-competitive bioderived monomers is an ongoing challenge. In this presentation, we describe the synthesis of nine different polyesters made from AB monomers that can be derived from lignin, and include full characterization of their thermal…

The second harmonic generation (SHG) is a nonlinear coherent second-order scattering process that causes frequency doubling of incident light. It is widely used in laser technology, spectroscopy, microscopy, wireless communication technology and fiber-optic communication systems. The main requirement for the SHG process is the noncentrosymmetry of the material, since the second-order susceptibility coefficient, which is responsible for the…

Zoom link for seminar: https://zoom.us/j/92955070680 Wound healing has always been a clinical challenge. Traditional wound dressings, such as gauze and bandages, provide only limited support for the healing process. These conventional solutions lack the ability to address complex wound care needs. In response to increasing clinical demands, multifunctional hydrogels have emerged as a revolutionary advancement in wound healing. These hydrogels…

The physical properties of solids are inherently coupled to their structure and dimensionality. As such, the discovery of nascent physical phenomena and the realization of complex miniaturized devices in the solid state have incessantly relied upon the creation of stable low-dimensional crystals that approach the atomic limit. Towards this end, us in the Maxx Lab are focused towards the discovery and chemical understanding of several classes of…