Langmuir Laureates and Lectureships 2013

Congratulations to Prashant V. Kamat and Nicholas A. Kotov, Langmuir Laureates 2013.  The 2013 Langmuir Lectures will be presented at the Fall ACS National Meeting in Indianapolis, IN.

The Langmuir Lectureship is co-sponsored by the ACS Division of Colloid & Surface Chemistry and the journal Langmuir.

Prashant V. Kamat                                              

2013 ACS Langmuir Lecturer 

 Nicholas A. Kotov 

     2013 ACS Langmuir Lecturer

Nicholas A. Kotov
2013 ACS Langmuir Lecturer

Prof. Nicholas A. Kotov graduated from Moscow State University where he started working on biomimetic interfaces for solar energy conversion. He is currently the Joseph and Florence Cejka Professor of Engineering at University of Michigan. Prof. Kotov serves as an Associate Editor for ACS Nano, and as a member of Advisory Boards of several nanotechnology journals.

The focus of his current research projects is self-organization of nanoparticles into complex biomimetic systems – chains, sheets, helices, and others. Such assemblies enable integration with microscale technologies and energy-conservative production of biosensing, energy conversion, and electronic devices as well as protection coatings and catalysts. His ongoing research projects also include advanced composites made by the layer-by-layer (LBL) assembly that represent another example of biomimetic nanoscale materials. Mechanical properties of LBL multilayers from nanoparticle of clay and other materials replicating those of nacre as the unique natural composite material were at the onset of his studies in this area. Ultrastrong composites produced in his lab are currently being tested for structural, automotive, and aviation applications.             

Prashant V. Kamat
2013 ACS Langmuir Lecturer

Professor Prashant V. Kamat earned his doctoral degree in Physical Chemistry from the Bombay University, and carried out postdoctoral research at Boston University and the University of Texas at Austin. He is currently the Zahm Professor of Science in the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry and Radiation Laboratory at the University of Notre Dame. Prof. Kamat serves as Deputy Editor of theJournal of Physical Chemistry Letters. He is a Fellow of the American Chemical Society, the AAAS, the Electrochemical Society, and the Japan Society for Promotion of Science.

For the past 25 years Prof. Kamat has been conducting DOE-BES supported research in the areas of photochemistry and photoelectrochemistry of semiconductor nanostructures and organic-inorganic hybrid assemblies at Notre Dame. His current research efforts are mainly focused on harvesting light energy using semiconductor nanocrystals, metal nanostructures, and carbon nanostructures as building blocks.

   

Free for Chemweb members:Strategies for CO2 capture in microporous organic polymers is reviewed by a team of distinguished research chemists

Robert Dawson, Prof. Andrew I Cooper and Dave J Adams review the design and use of microporous polymers for pre- and post-combustion capture of CO2.

-Microporous organic polymers are promising candidates for CO2 capture materials due to their good physicochemical stabilities and high surface areas.
-They predict that ultrahigh-surface-area microporous organic polymers are good candidates for use in pre-combustion capture, while networks with lower surface areas but higher heats of sorption for CO2 might be more relevant for lower pressure, post-combustion capture.
- In their paper "Chemical functionalization strategies for carbon dioxide capture in microporous organic polymers"made available for free via ChemWeb the authors discuss strategies for enhancing CO2 uptakes including increasing surface area, chemical functionalization to provide high-enthalpy binding sites and the potential for pore size tuning.

REFERENCES:
1. Chemical functionalization strategies for carbon dioxide capture in microporous organic polymers (pdf)

2. Learn more about Polymer Functionalization
 Introduction to Polymer Functionalization: Motivations, Yield, Crystallinity, Solubility Issues, Common
Functionalization Approaches  (pdf) by Prof. Paula Hammond .

Latest News on Raman Spectrometry now reaches the single molecule level, publised in Nature 06 June 2013

Chemical mapping of a single molecule by plasmon-enhanced Raman scattering was accomplished by an international team of researchers from China, Spain, and Sweden:

Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, University of Science and Technology of China, Material Physics Center CSIC-UPV/EHU and Donostia International Physics Center DIPC,  Spain,Theoretical Chemistry and Biology, School of Biotechnology, Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden.

Let me underline the scientific approach to ethics and probity as :

Competing financial interests:The authors declare no competing financial interests.

R. Zhang, Y. Zhang, Z. C. Dong, S. Jiang, C. Zhang, L. G. Chen, L. Zhang, Y. Liao,                J. Aizpurua, Y. Luo, J. L. Yang & J. G. Hou

Figure 1.   Schematic drawing of our home-built experimental setup.

This setup is composed of four sub-systems: 1.  a laser source for light excitation, a dark-box for optical filtering and alignment, 2. low-temperature ultrahigh-vacuum (UHV) scanning tunneling microscope (STM) for sample preparation and characterization with 3. a built-in lens for both light excitation and collection, and 4.  a spectrometer equipped with a highly sensitive CCD detector for Raman spectral measurements.

REFERENCE:

1. Chemical mapping of a single molecule by plasmon-enhanced Raman scattering, R. Zhang, Y. Zhang, Z. C. Dong, S. Jiang, C. Zhang, L. G. Chen, L. Zhang, Y. Liao,   J. Aizpurua, Y. Luo, J. L. Yang & J. G. Hou, 

Nature,

498,82–86 (06 June 2013) doi:10.1038/nature12151

Charge carriers in rechargeable batteries: Na ions vs. Li ions - Energy & Environmental Science (RSC Publishing)

Sodium, Na not so salty, This paper is just the stuff that may provide the basis for truely large scale innovation, taking the "salt" out of the bill. If any of my readers would like to share the full paper please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Charge carriers in rechargeable batteries: Na ions vs. Li ions - Energy & Environmental Science (RSC Publishing)

Reference: RSC's feed which can be read on my blog 

Northwestern prof is Turner Alfrey lecturer

Northwestern prof is Turner Alfrey lecturer

Michigan Molecular Institute’s (MMI) Turner Alfrey Visiting Professorship (TAVP) will open a week’s worth of expert instruction in the field of materials science on June 17-21 from 3 to 6 p.m. at MMI’s lecture hall.

MMI's TAVP- series has invited Professor Kenneth R. Shull who is professor of materials science and engineering at Northwestern University. At MMI, he will give a course entitled Elasticity and Fracture of Soft Materials to local scientists and other interested parties. 

Michigan Molecular Institute, founded in 1971, is a non-profit organization dedicated to polymer research and education. In addition to its research activity, MMI has served as the incubator for several successful business divisions, including Dendritech, the world leader in commercial dendrimer production; Impact Analytical, a premier analytical testing lab; Oxazogen, a supplier of advanced specialty films, coating materials and polymers; and MITCON, which serves the information technology needs of more than 35 local non-profit organizations. For more information, visit www.mmi.org.

Sustainable Chemistry Strategic Research Agenda brings Innovative Solutions to Societal Demands

Stakeholders of the Technology Platform on Sustainable Chemistry (SusChem) today unveiled their Strategic Research Agenda (SRA) and three future scenarios demonstrating the value of innovations in chemistry. Based on a common vision, the SRA aims at responding to the challenges faced by the chemical sector in the next 20 years, while shaping solutions to critical societal demands. 

Read more on this commendable EU initiative started in 2004 cf the following links

Sustainable Chemistry Strategic Research Agenda brings Innovative Solutions to Societal Demands

EU Suschem link