10/10/2023
By Kwok Fan Chow
The Kennedy College of Science, Department of Chemistry, invites you to attend a Ph.D. Research Proposal defense by Randall A. Scanga entitled “Block Copolymer Templated Approaches to Chiral Plasmonic Systems.”
Degree: Doctoral
Location: Olney Hall, Room 520A
Date: Friday, Oct. 20, 2023
Time: 9:30 a.m.
Committee Chair: Prof. James Reuther, Department of Chemistry, University of Massachusetts Lowell
Committee Members:
- Prof. Marina Ruths, Department of Chemistry, University of Massachusetts Lowell
- Prof. Yuyu Sun, Department of Chemistry, University of Massachusetts Lowell
- Prof. James Whitten, Department of Chemistry, University of Massachusetts Lowell
Abstract:
Presently, the focus of my research is the development of scalable methods for production of chiral nanomaterials (NMs). The targeted materials possess a range of optical and electronic properties stemming from incorporation of excitonic and plasmonic elements whose photophysical behavior may be synergistically coupled to afford plexcitons, hybridized states in the strongly coupled regime. If realized, such composite structures hold promise for creation of wavelength tunable chiral plasmonic metamaterials featuring unique optical properties (e.g., negative index metamaterials, NIM; circularly polarized luminescence, CPL) and highly sensitive chemosensory capabilities (i.e., chiral sensing and/or biophysical assays). The present design leverages in situ synthesis and self-assembly of helical rod-coil block copolymers featuring liquid crystalline (LC) core forming blocks which, due to their positional order, serve as alignment media for incorporated/templated metallic nanoparticles (MNPs).
All interested students and faculty members are invited to attend.