Exploration of Nanoparticles Steven Hershman under Dr. Chris Murray Department of Chemistry

Contents Introduction to nanoparticles? How do you make large nanostructures? How can computers aid in research? Summary

Contents Introduction to nanoparticles?

Nanoparticles Particles < 100 nm Quantum Confinement –1 st approximation:

Band Theory Bandgap for Quantum Dot

Interesting Nanoparticle properties Quantized energy levels Tunable bandgap Tunable Optics Coulomb blockade Other cool stuff!

Tunable bandgap Particle-in-a-Box Like term for Quantum Confinement Electrostatic attraction between valance and conductance band

Tunable optics

Coulomb blockade Energy to add an electron: < kT  it can’t spontaneously happen!  Single electron transistor Capacitance of spherical particle

Other Cool Stuff! Multiple carrier excitation –Next generation solar cells Nonlinear optics –Goodbye Beer’s law –Applications Change light intensity Change wavelength Faster optical switches

Contents How do you make large nanostructures?

A DNA analogy Generating a synthetic genome by whole genome assembly: X174 bacteriophage from synthetic oligonucleotides

Oriented attachment Ligation for nanoparticles R. Lee Penn and Jillian F. Banfield "Imperfect Oriented Attachment: Dislocation Generation in Defect-Free Nanocrystals" Science 281 (5379) : (1998) (in Reports)

Contents How can computers aid in research?

Modeling Exotic-Shaped Nanoparticles

Quickly apply theory

And try to match it with experiment…

But lab is still being constructed

Thanks: Dr. Chris Murray Dr. Doug Yates Christine Eklund Roy Vagelos