CAREER: Gold Nanoparticles with Single Copy of Functional Groups: Synthesis and Study Qun Huo, University of Central Florida, DMR Chemical synthesis of gold nanoparticles, nanorods,core-shell nanoparticles Surface chemistry modification and functionalization of nanoparticles Property studies and nanoparticle assembly into functional materials Application of gold nanoparticles in devices, microfabrication, and bioconjugation J. Nanosci. Nanotech. 2007, in press; Small, 2006 J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2005, Chem. Comm. 2004, Chem. Mater. 2004, Langmuir 2004 J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2007, JPCB 2005 Adv. Mater Selected publication list: (1) Ramagrishna, G.; Dai, Q.; Zou, J.; Huo, Q.; Goodson, T. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2007, 129, (2) Sun, W.; Dai, Q.; Worden, J.G.; Huo, Q. J. Phys. Chem. B. 2005, 109, (3) Dai, Q.; Worden, J.; Trullinger, J.; Huo, Q. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2005, 127, (4) Worden, J.G.; Dai, Q.; Shaffer, A.; Huo, Q. Chem. Mater. 2004, 16, (5) Shaffer, A.; Wodern, J.G.; Huo, Q. Langmuir 2004, 20, (6) Worden, J.G.; Shaffer, A.W.; Huo, Q. Chem. Comm. 2004, (Listed as top ten most accessed article) (7)Chen, H.; Liu, X.; Muthuraman, H.; Zou, J.; Dai, Q.; Wang, J.; Huo, Q. Adv. Mater. 2006, 18, (featured in “Advances in Advance”). Gold nanoparticles with size in the range of nm are very important and useful nanomaterials for electronics, devices, chemical or biosensing/biodetection, new therapeutic reagents, catalysis, and many more other areas. In order to develop their applications, nanoparticles with controlled chemical structures and properties need to be developed and studied first. In our research, we developed a unique solid phase synthesis technique to make gold nanoparticles with a single chemical functional groups attached on the surface. With this single functional group, the nanoparticles can be treated as typical “molecules” to react with other chemicals or nanoparticles to form complex assembled structures such as nano-necklace, nanochains, nanoparticle clusters, dimers and oligomers. With well-defined assembling structures, these materials provide excellent examples to study and understand nanoparticle interactions, a very critical aspect that determines their potential applications in areas such as optical limiting and nanoelectronic devices. In addition to monofunctional nanoparticles, our research team also conducts extensive synthesis and property study of a wide range of spherical and non-spherical gold nanoparticles, core-shell nanoparticles. We have developed a few potential applications from these materials, including their use for microstructure fabrication, treatment for Alzheimer’s disease, and early detection of cancer. Commercial product resulting from these materials are expected in the next few years.

CAREER: Gold Nanoparticles with Single Copy of Functional Groups: Synthesis and Study Qun Huo, University of Central Florida, DMR REU student Genevieve Knowles from Florida International University receiving training at UCF on how to use X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (2007) Education Total 20 graduate students, undergraduate students and postdoctoral associates trained in this project. Undergraduate students: 9 (6 females, and 2 Hispanic) Graduate students: 8 (graduated: 1 Ph.D., 2 M.S., to be graduate in 2008: 3 Ph.D., 1 M.S.) Postdoctoral associates: 2 Skills and techniques that students have learned Wet chemical synthesis and processing of nanoparticle materials UV-Vis absorption, fluorescence, Ft-IR spectrscopy Optical microscopy, SEM, TEM, AFM, XRD, XPS, Rutherford backscattering Micro- and nanofabrication, laser ablation technique, battery and photovotaic cell fabrication Bioconjugation, bioimmunoassay, biomolecular imaging, and biomarker detection Publications Total 21 publications resulted from this work 2 publications and two more under preparation with undergraduate students as coauthors, Chem. Comm. paper (2004) was listed as top ten-most accessed articles (February) Adv. Mater. paper (2006) was featured in “Advances in Advance” by journal Adv. Mater. Colloid Surf B. paper (2007) was listed as number 52 among the Top 100 Nanomedicine Publications in year 2006 by Ion Channel Media Group Citation number of this project-related work close to 100 since first publication in 2004 Patent applications and technology transfer Total 4 patent applications and 2 additional provisional patent applications resulting from this award were filed One start-up company Nano Discovery LLC was founded to license some of these technologies and product Multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research Established an extensive collaboration network with physicists, chemists, mathematicians, engineer, Cancer Research Institutes, and industrial partners Selected publication list (continued): (8) Huo, Q. (Invited Editorial Review) Colloid Surf. B. 2007, 59, (9) Liu, X.; Wang, J.; Atwater, M.; Dai, Q.; Zou, J.; Brennan, J.P.; Huo, Q. J. Nanosci. Nanotech. 2007, in press (10) Huo, Q., Worden, J.G. J. Nanoparticle Res. 2006, published online. (11) Zou, J.; Dai, Q.; Wang, J.; Liu, X.; Huo, Q. J. Nanosci. Nanotech. 2007, 7, (12) Liu, X.; Atwater, M.; Wang, J.; Huo, Q. Colloids Surf. B – Biointerface Sci. 2007, 58, 3-7 List of undergraduate student participants Mark Atwater (engineering 2006) Lauren Austin (chemistry 2006-present) Janelle Couts (chemistry 2006-present) Genevieve Knowles (engineering 2007) Maria Munoz (Psychology 2006) Isla Ruprai (Molecular biology 2006) Jennifer Rodriguez (Microbiology 2006) Brenden Pelletier (Microbiology 2006) Jon Trullinger (Chemistry 2004)