Tags: Materials Chemistry and Nanoscience Seminar


Chemical Vapor Transport Optimization for Actinide Chalcogenides

Chemical Vapor Transport (CVT) is a useful synthetic method for low-dimensional nanomaterials. This seminar will discuss how we’ve used it to achieve high-quality 1-D and 2-D material synthesis at high yields and larger scales than previously reported for transition metal chalcogenides and transition metal chalcohalides, and how CVT has been used for the controlled growth of several uranium and thorium chalcogenides. With polymorph control…


AI/ML in Additive Manufacturing and Polymer Synthesis for New Data and Discovery

Creating and curating new data appends the way we approach materials science. In additive manufacturing (AM), the fabrication of parts and objects with high complexity and high performance is advantageous over other methods. Using nanocomposites enables highly improved properties even with “commodity polymers” that do not need to undergo high-temperature processes or extensive reformulation. With artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/…


Catalyst Discovery at the Intersection of Molecules, Materials, and Nanotechnology

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.…


Form and Function: Understanding and Controlling Processes at the Nanoscale Through Synthesis and Spectroscopy

At the nanoscale, magnetic, optical, electronic, and thermal processes can differ drastically from their bulk counterparts. These deviations stem from reduced crystalline domains, large surface areas, and quantum confinement, leading to physical and chemical properties intricately dependent on size, morphology, and ligand identity as opposed to purely compositional structure. This remarkable tunability, combined with their solution…


Designing Material Properties from Molecular Principles

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…


From Rare-Earth Extraction to Polymer Recycling: Innovations in Materials for Sustainability

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…


Hierarchical Molecular Design at Organic-Inorganic Hybrid Lattices

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…


Fundamental Mechanisms in Sustainable Materials from Global Environment to Climate Change

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…


Synthesis and Structure-Property Characterization of Lignin-Derived Thermoplastic Poly(ether ester)s

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…


Recent Approaches to 2D and 3D Materials for Second Harmonic Generation

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…
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