Research

Single-nanocrystal studies are the state-of-the-art in terms of elucidating key structure-property relationships that are essential for conceptual breakthroughs in nanoscience. However, single-nanocrystal studies are not yet widely adopted on account of being experimentally complicated, low-throughput, and without sufficient correlated sample information. We consider the screening challenge presented by nanocrystal heterogeneity to be like that of drug discovery and design, where there is a similarly large, multidimensional experimental space from which a lead target is to be identified or by which a suite of structure-property relationships can be elucidated. Given the conceptual similarities, the defining features of our research projects include 1) the development of high-throughput technologies to screen the structure and properties of nanocrystal collections  and single-nanocrystals and 2) high-resolution and computational methodologies that facilitate new structure-property correlations of single-nanocrystals. We encourage you to look at our recent publications.

Our High-throughput Subgroup has created Legion as a new high-throughput electrochemistry platform based on a 96-well plate platform. We are now using this platform for high-throughput nanocrystal synthesis and nanocrystal catalyst screening, the latter of which leverages recent advances in mass spectrometry. We are also developing high-throughput assays for nanocrystal structure determination based on optical microscopy. A long-term objective is to replace or minimize the reliance on electron microscopy to assess the heterogeneity of nanocrystal collections and enable new, information-rich correlative studies that interface optically derived structural and compositional information with other property measurements.

Our High-resolution Subgroup is pushing the frontiers of what types of property measurements are possible from single-nanocrystals. They are achieving high-resolution structure-property correlation of single-nanocrystal catalysts of complex compositions, where experiment and theory are integrated fully to provide atomic level insight into catalyst activity and selectivity. We are positioning ourselves to integrate the high-throughput and high-resolution workflows through development of multimodal methods that will be applicable to diversity of nanocrystal types and application spaces.