Seeding a New Kind of Garden with Nanoscale Building Blocks
The properties of solids can be manipulated for optimal performance in applications through confinement of materials to nanometer dimensions. However, control of composition and structure is required for nanoscale materials to be integrated into new technologies. Professor Skrabalak and her students are addressing this need by validating new synthetic strategies to access well-defined nanomaterials. For example, shown here are gold/palladium octopods – bimetallic nanocrystals with eight branches – synthesized by seed-mediated co-reduction. The branching pattern is directed by the seed structure and these nanocrystals represent a multi-functional platform. Therein, the optical properties of nanoscale gold can be coupled with the electrocatalytic properties of palladium (studied in collaboration with the Peters Group) to provide new chemical insight into palladium-specific surface chemistry.
Read more: "Octopods versus Concave Nanocrystals: Control of Morphology by Manipulating the Kinetics of Seeded Growth via Co-Reduction," Christopher J. DeSantis, Angela A. Peverly, Dennis G. Peters, Sara E. Skrabalak, Nano Lett., 2011, 11, 2164.
Trevor Douglas
Earl Blough Professor of Chemistry
Chemical Biology, Inorganic, Materials
Caroline Chick Jarrold
Class of 1948 Herman B Wells Endowed Professor
Adjunct Professor, Physics
Martin F. Jarrold
Distinguished Professor and Robert & Marjorie Mann Chair
Nicola L. B. Pohl
Professor and Joan & Marvin Carmack Chair, Associate Dean of Natural and Mathematical Sciences
