April 17, 2019<\/p>\n
Naomi J. Halas \u201cNanomaterials and Light for Sustainability and Societal Impact\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n 4:10 PM, 134 Featheringill Hall Abstract.\u00a0<\/strong>Metallic nanoparticles, used since antiquity to impart intense, vibrant color into materials, then brought to scientific attention in the 19th<\/sup>\u00a0century as \u201cFaraday\u2019s colloid\u201d, have more recently become a central tool in the nanoscale manipulation of light. When excited by light, metallic nanoparticles undergo a coherent oscillation of their conduction electrons- known as a plasmon- which is responsible for their strong light-matter interactions and properties.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 While the scientific foundation of this field has been built on noble and coinage metals (most typically gold or silver), more recently we have begun to question whether the same, or similar properties can also be realized in more sustainable materials.\u00a0 Aluminum, the most abundant metal on our planet, can support high-quality plasmonic properties spanning the UV-to-IR region of the spectrum.\u00a0 \u00a0Coupling a plasmonic nanoantenna directly to catalytic nanoparticles\u00a0 transforms the entire complex into an efficient light-controlled catalyst capable of driving chemical reactions under surprisingly mild, low temperature conditions. This new type of light-based catalyst can be utilized for remediating greenhouse gases, and converting them to useful molecules for industry, or benign molecules for a cleaner planet.\u00a0 We have previously introduced photothermal effects for biomedical therapeutics; now, years after their initial demonstration, this approach is being utilized in human trials for the precise and highly localized ablation of cancerous regions of the prostate, eliminating the highly deleterious side effects characteristic of conventional prostate cancer therapies.\u00a0 Photothermal effects can also be harvested for sustainability applications, which we have most recently demonstrated in an off-grid solar thermal desalination system that transforms membrane distillation into a scalable water purification process.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" April 17, 2019 Naomi J. Halas Director, Smalley-Curl Institute Stanley C. Moore Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Professor of Physics and Astronomy, Chemistry, & Bioengineering Rice University \u201cNanomaterials and Light for Sustainability and Societal Impact\u201d 4:10 PM, 134 Featheringill Hall Refreshments served at 3:45 Abstract.\u00a0Metallic nanoparticles, used since antiquity to impart intense, vibrant color…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4798,"featured_media":1834,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,13],"tags":[23],"class_list":["post-1797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-vinse-colloquium","category-events","tag-vinse-colloquium"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.dev.vanderbilt.edu\/vinsenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1797","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.dev.vanderbilt.edu\/vinsenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.dev.vanderbilt.edu\/vinsenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/my.dev.vanderbilt.edu\/vinsenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4798"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/my.dev.vanderbilt.edu\/vinsenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1797"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/my.dev.vanderbilt.edu\/vinsenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1797\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3551,"href":"https:\/\/my.dev.vanderbilt.edu\/vinsenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1797\/revisions\/3551"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/my.dev.vanderbilt.edu\/vinsenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.dev.vanderbilt.edu\/vinsenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/my.dev.vanderbilt.edu\/vinsenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/my.dev.vanderbilt.edu\/vinsenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/strong>Director, Smalley-Curl Institute
\nStanley C. Moore Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering
\nProfessor of Physics and Astronomy, Chemistry, & Bioengineering
\nRice University<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Refreshments served at 3:45<\/p>\n