Nanoparticles make it easier to turn light into solvated electrons

Nanoparticles make it easier to turn light into solvated electrons

There are many ways to initiate chemical reactions in liquids, but placing free electrons directly into water, ammonia and other liquid solutions is especially attractive for green chemistry because solvated electrons are inherently clean, leaving behind no side products after they react.

In a published study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers from the Center for Adapting Flaws into Features (CAFF) uncovered the long-sought mechanism of a well-known but poorly understood process that produces solvated electrons via interactions between light and metal.

More links aren’t necessarily better for hybrid nanomaterials

More links aren’t necessarily better for hybrid nanomaterials

Chemists from Rice University and the University of Texas at Austin discovered more isn’t always better when it comes to packing charge-acceptor molecules on the surface of semiconducting nanocrystals.

Rossky, Roberts and colleagues at CAFF systematically studied hybrid materials containing lead sulfide nanocrystals and varying concentrations of an oft-studied organic dye called perylene diimide (PDI). The experiments showed that continually increasing the concentration of PDI on the surface of nanocrystals eventually produced a precipitous drop in electron transfer rates.

Graduate Student Daniel Cotton Defends Thesis

Graduate Student Daniel Cotton Defends Thesis

Congratulations to Dr. Daniel Cotton for successfully defending his Ph.D. thesis in Spring 2022! Daniel Cotton

Dr. Cotton accepted a postdoctoral position in the Dawlaty Group at the University of Southern California.

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