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Nanoscience Colloquia 2023

Open, advanced talks on nanoscience

2023 Colloquia


14 September 2023 15:15, k-space, Physics Department 

Very welcome to this colloquium with Ki Tae Nam, Professor at Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Seoul National University.

Chirality in Inorganic Nanomaterials

Abstract: From small molecules to entire organisms, evolution has refined biological structures at the nanoscale, microscale and macroscale to be chiral—that is, mirror dissymmetric. Chiral nanoscale materials can be designed that mimic, refine and advance biological chiral geometries, to engineer optical, physical and chemical properties for applications in photonics, sensing, catalysis and biomedicine. The idea that inorganic materials can be chiral seems to be counterintuitive. In this talk, I will discuss about a new mechanism that can generate chiral nanomaterials based on the interaction between chiral peptides and high index plane of metal surface. The enantioselective interaction of chiral molecules and high-Miller-index facets can break the mirror symmetry of the metal nanocrystals. I will also discuss about interesting optical properties of these chiral gold plasmonic nanoparticles that was synthesized by the peptides and amino acid. The resulting 432 symmetric chiral morphology result in the highest dissymmetry factor (g) and the efficient coupling with other materials. I believe that this synthetic approach for the chirality control of inorganic nanomaterials can have a lot of potential to maximize the light-matter interaction, resulting in many optical, electronic and biological applications.

Recommended Reading

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05353-1
https://doi.org/10.1038/s44222-022-00014-4
https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.201905758

Short Bio

Portrait of Ki Tae Nam.

Professor Ki Tae Nam received his B.S. and M.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from Seoul National University, and his Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He got the “outstanding PhD thesis award” from MIT. His PhD thesis was about the “virus-based battery” that has been highlighted as the first demonstration of virus based electrochemical devices. During his postdoc (2007-2010) at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, he studied peptide mimetic polymer to assemble two dimensional structures. Since 2010, His group at SNU continue to pioneer the research area of bioinspired material science to make new functional materials for energy and optical applications. Recent innovations include the development of CO2 utilization chemistry and the peptide based synthesis of chiral nanomaterials. In 2022, He received the POSCO Chung-am Award that is one of the most prestigious award in Korea. He is also  a member of the Young Korean Academy of Science and Technology (Y-KAST).

 

15 June 2023 15:15, k-space, Physics Department 


Warmly welcome to this colloquium held by Dr. Roey Elnathan, Senior lecturer in biomedicine at Deakin University Australia.

Cellular Nanoinjections for Biomedical Applications

Summary: Programmable vertically configured nanostructures are spurring scientific and technological advances in engineered nanobio cellular interfaces [1–2]. In particular, diverse, tuneable, vertically configured nanoneedle (NN) in the form of nanowire (NW), nanostraw (NS), and nanotube (NT) arrays are now providing major advantages in precisely manipulating increasingly complex cellular processes—such as intracellular delivery, biomolecular extraction/sampling, intracellular probing of action potential, ex vivo gene editing, immunomodulation, and biosensing [3–5].  

Intracellular access and bioactive cargo transport are tightly constrained to ensure healthy cell function and behaviour. Many different approaches have been developed to breach the cell plasma membrane to gain intracellular access. Intracellular delivery can be achieved by viral, chemical, and physical methods; these delivery routes typically achieve less-than-satisfactory delivery efficiency, and their functionality is often limited to specific cargo and cell types.

Existing delivery technologies focus mainly on addressing a certain subset of combinations, specifically nucleic acid delivery (transfection) to certain classes of cells; this has hampered progress and versatility toward next-generation ex vivo cell-based therapies. For example, cellular immunotherapy (CAR-T cells), and stem cell technologies, require delivery of genome-editing systems into diverse cell types with minimal invasiveness and perturbation, and function in diverse scenarios, from fundamental to biomedical (a major limitation).  

The talk will cover the development of engineering novel NN designs and fabrication paradigms—a transformative shift,
allowing precise control of ex-vivo cellular processes, in particular the ability to deliver gene-editing tools via cellular
nanoinjection, bringing deep understanding of the fundamental mechanisms at the interface of nanoscale engineering and cellular interrogation.

REFERENCES: [1] Chiappini C*., et al., Elnathan R*., Nature Protocol 2021, 16, 4539; [2] Elnathan R*. et al., , Chiappini C* Nature Nanotechnology, 2022, 17, 807; [3] Hao Zhe Yoh., N.H. Voelcker*, R. Elnathan* Advanced Functional Materials, 2022, 32, 2104828; [3] Elnathan R*., et al., Chiappini C*., Nature Reviews Materials 2022, 7, 953 [4] Chen Y., N.H. Voelcker*, Elnathan R*., Advanced Materials 2020, e2001668; [5] Chen Y., et al., Elnathan R*., N.H. Voelcker*, Materials Today, 2023, 63, 8. 


27 April 2023 15:15, k-space, Physics Department 

Warmly welcome to this colloquium held by Dr. Helmut Schift, PSI, Switzerland.

Laser-based direct write lithography as a tool for 3D grayscale patterning

Abstract: Direct write lithography (DWL) is a versatile maskless lithography, and tools with reasonable throughput have been developed for fast prototyping and small scale production that allow for cost-efficient fabrication of microstructures. Apart from promising advances in DWL using two-photon absorption, the most common DWL tools are still those with non-intensity dependent material absorption (one-photon absorption) that are both used for binary and grayscale lithography. During two years of experiments with our new Heidelberg Instruments DWL 66+, we have patterned a multitude of structures from slopes, staircases, microlenses, and explored hybrid patterning schemes using DWL and nanoimprint lithography.
 
CV: Helmut Schift is researcher and group leader at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) in Switzerland. He studied electrical engineering at the University of Karlsruhe, and performed his Ph.D. studies at the Institute of Microtechnology Mainz (IMM), Germany. He has been working in the field of Nanoimprint Lithography (NIL) since about 27 years. At PSI he was starting with the investigation of antiadhesive layers, went into squeeze flow and nanorheology, set-up processes for stamp copying and applied nanoimprint to a range of applications. Currently he is working on 3D lithography using direct laser writing, on glass molding and on cleaning procedures for metal waveguides for ITER. Besides his research, he is consultant for research integrity at PSI.

More about the speaker:

https://www.psi.ch/en/lnq/people/helmut-schift


23 February 2023 15:15, k-space, Physics Department 

Warmly welcome to this colloquium held by Professor Xiao Wei SUN, Institute of Nanoscience and Applications (INA)
Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China

Quantum Dot Displays

Abstract: In this talk, we approach the ultimate goal for displays (naked-eye 3D), and the demand to realize such 3D displays, by introducing the colloidal quantum dot (QD) displays. With the development of synthesis, very high quantum yield and narrow linewidth have been realized for colloidal QDs. I will talk about some of the key technologies needed for QDs to become a new display technology. Especially via pixel patterning, and by making use of electrodeposition and inkjet printing, we were able to achieve high resolution pixilation and highly reliable quantum dot light-emitting diodes (QLEDs). We have also demonstrated QD microdisplays by integrating QLEDs onto a silicon backplane. We also tried to realize electrically pumped lasing from QLED. Though lasing was not achieved, we were able to narrow the linewidth down to 6 nm. These developments could hopefully contribute to the ultimate 2D display panel for light-field 3D displays.

 


Future colloquia will be organized by Ville Maisi, so if you have ideas for speakers that you would like to invite, please contact Ville. 
Ville Maisi´s personal page and contact information