MEMS Distinguished Seminar: Dr. Younan Xia, "Three Decades of Nanomaterials Research: From Fundamental Studies to Applications"

Presenter: Younan Xia

The Thomas Lord Department of Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science hosts Professor Younan Xia (Johns Hopkins) to present the MEMS Distinguished Seminar entitled, "Three Decades of Nanomaterials Research: From Fundamental Studies to Applications."

Abstract: Nanomaterials have found widespread use in a broad range of applications, including photonics, electronics, catalysis, energy conversion, sensing, imaging, and biomedicine. For almost three decades, my research group has been working diligently to develop chemical methods for the synthesis and fabrication of novel nanomaterials with well-controlled properties. Some of these nanomaterials have also been successfully commercialized. In this talk, I will briefly review my journey into this exciting field of research. Specifically, I want to illustrate how a simple idea driven by curiosity was able to enable a productive career for almost three decades. I will also discuss some of the recent developments, with a focus on the rational design and controlled synthesis of various types of nanomaterials for catalysis, fuel cell technology, drug delivery, and cancer theranostics. If time allows, I will discuss how to scale up the synthesis of these nanomaterials without losing control to produce samples with the quality, quantity, and reproducibility needed for a systematic study of their fundamental properties as a function of size, shape, and internal structure, and for the exploration.

BIO: Dr. Younan Xia is a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor at Johns Hopkins University, with joint appointments in Department of Materials Science and Engineering and Department of Biomedical Engineering. He received a B.S. degree in chemical physics from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) in 1987, M.S. degree in chemistry from University of Pennsylvania (with Alan G. MacDiarmid) in 1993, and Ph.D. degree in physical chemistry from Harvard University (with George M. Whitesides) in 1996. His group invented numerous nanomaterials with well-controlled properties for use in applications related to plasmonics, electronics, display, catalysis, energy conversion, controlled release, drug delivery, nanomedicine, and regenerative medicine. Notably, the silver nanowires invented by his group were commercialized for the manufacturing of flexible, transparent, and conductive coatings key to applications such as touchscreen display, flexible electronics, and photovoltaics. nanocages.com

Contact

Spaulding, Amy
919-660-5310
amy.spaulding@duke.edu