Single-Molecule Chemistry:
Catalysis, Bioinorganics, Biophysics
September 2018:
- Peng is selected for the 2018 Bau Family Award in Inorganic Chemistry. Established in 2008 by the late Prof. Robert Bau, an international figure known for his pioneering studies on the chemistry of transition-metal hydride complexes, this biennial award is given to a young inorganic chemist under the age of 45 in recognition of his/her outstanding achievements.
June 2018:
- Former PhD student Hao Shen officially accepts an assistant professorship at Kent State University. Congratulations!
- Mahdi and Xianwen's perspective on JACS spotlights: "Photo(electro)catalysts, ready for their extreme close-up."
- Congratulations to Ningmu on his paper in ACS Nano on quantitative imaging of catalytic hotspots in single plasmonic nanostructures, using correlated super-resolution catalysis imaging and electron microscopy imaging!
May 2018:
- Nature Chemistry News & View article features our work: "Communicating catalysts."
- Mahdi and Xianwen's invited Perpective on single-particle photo(electro)catalysts for solar energy conversion accepted by JACS.
- Rocky, as one of the first Cornell Presidential Postdoctoral Fellows, is featured on Cornell Research. See story "Catalysis - Focusing in to see the action."
April 2018:
- Tai-Yen's review article and Ace's art are featured on the cover of Acc. Chem. Res.!
- Peng is selected as the 2018-2019 Sessler Distinguished Alumni Lecturer by Stanford Chemistry.
March 2018:
- Congratulations to Lauren on winning the Howard Neal Wachter Memorial Prize, our Department’s award for our best 3rd (or 4th) year (bio)physical chemistry students!
- News article at Nanotechweb from UK Institute of Physics: "Communication is key in nanocatalysts too."
- C&EN News of The Week: "Nanoparticle catalysts communicate across distances."
- Cornell Chronicle news: "Understanding nanocatalysts' 'talk' could better inform design."
- The joint paper of Ningmu, Xianchun, and Guanqun appears online in Nature Chemistry.
- Watch a YouTube video by ARL on our polymer work: "Army research is paving way to materials of the future."
- Congratulations to Rocky on winning "Chinese government award for outstanding self-financed students abroad."
- We welcome Rocky Ye officially joining the group as a Cornell Presidential Postdoc Fellow!
February 2018:
- "Army research leading to materials of the future wins national award," Army Research Lab press release; February 6, 2018.
- Ningmu, Xiaochun, and Guanqun's paper accepted by Nature Chemistry: "Co-operative Communication within and between Single Nanocatalysts."
Honors Won by Group Members
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Graduate Students
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Nesha May Andoy: Tunis Wentink Prize for Outstanding
Academic and Research Performance, 2010
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Jaime Benitez: NIH Molecular Biophysics Traineeship,
2006-2009; Carl Storm Underrepresented Minority Fellowship, GRC, 2008
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Eric Choudhary: NSF IGERT Fellowship on Materials for a
Sustainable Future, 2010-2012
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Aaron Keller: NIH Molecular Biophysics Traineeship,
2007-2009; Poster Award, Cell Biology of Metals Gordon Research
Conference, 2009; Poster Award, Graduate Association of Chemistry
poster session, 2010
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Danya Martell Smart: NIH Chemistry and Biology Interfaces
Traineeship,2011; Howard Neal Wachter Memorial Prize,2013; Bauer
Scholarship Award, 2014; NIH postdoctoral fellowship, 2017
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Kaori Kubo: Heiwa Nakajima fellowship, 2011-2013
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Ace George Santiago: Simon Bauer Scholarship Award, 2015
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Danny Francis: NSF Graduate Fellowship, 2016-2019
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Won Jung: Howard Neal Wachter Memorial Prize, 2016
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Lauren Genova: NIH Chemistry and Biology Interfaces Traineeship, 2016; Howard Neal Wachter Memorial Prize, 2018
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Postdocs
- Justin Sambur: NSF postdoc fellowship, 2011
- Rocky Ye: Cornell Presidential Postdoctoral Fellowship, 2018
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Undergraduate Students
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Aleksandr Kalininskiy:
Hughes Scholar, 2008
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Derek Klarin:
Hughes Scholar, 2006
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Weilin Meng:
Hill Fellowship for Undergraduate Summer
Research, 2010
News articles featuring our research:
- JACS spotlights: "Photo(electro)catalysts, ready for their extreme close-up," J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2018, 140, 6727-6728.
- "Communicating catalysts," Nature Chem. 2018, 10, 580-582.
- "Communication is key in nanocatalysts too," Nanotechweb.org, UK Institute of Physics.
- "Nanoparticle catalysts communicate across distances," Chem. Eng. News 2018, 96, 6.
- "Understanding nanocatalysts' 'talk' could better inform design," Cornell Chronicle, March 26, 2018.
- Army Research Lab YouTube video: "Army research is paving way to materials of the future."
- "Army research leading to materials of the future wins national award," Army Research Lab press release; February 6, 2018.
- "Research of the Year," Chem. Eng. News 2017, 95(49).
- "Method reveals secrets of bimetallic catalysts" Chem. Eng. News 2017, 95, 9.
- "First-ever visualization of enhanced catalytic activity reported" Cornell Chronicle, Nov 1, 2017.
- "Polymer chains grow one ‘hairball’ at a time" Nature 2017, 550 (7677), research highlights.
- "Experiment shows that polymers grow in spurts," This Week in Chemistry, Compound Interest.
- "Close up view of growing polymer chain show jump steps" Phys.org, October 20, 2017.
- "Polymers: Watching growth, step by step" Science 2017, 358, 316.
- "Single-molecule experiment reveals polymer growth spurts" Chem. Eng. News 2017, 95, 4.
- "Magnetic tweezers reveal ‘hairballs’ in polymer growth" Cornell Chronicle, Oct 19, 2017.
- "E. coli bacteria's defense secret revealed" Cornell Chronicle, June 12, 2017.
- "A ‘Hole’ New World: Improving the Efficiency of Water Splitting," Cornell Daily Sun, March 1, 2016.
- “Water Splitting: Placing the catalyst where it's needed” Science 2016, 351, 828.
- "Electrochemistry: Photocatalysts in close-up," Nature 2016, 530, 36-37.
- "Fluorescence Method Maps Reactivity Hot Spots On A Catalyst’s Surface," Chem. Eng. News 2016, 94, 8.
- "Researchers
seek efficient means of splitting water," Cornell
Chronicle, Feb 4, 2016.
- Faculty of 1000 Prime recommendation on Danya's PNAS paper (PNAS, 2015, 112, 13467).
- "Understanding Of Bacterial Protein’s Defense Strategy Could Lead To Antibiotics,"Chemical & Engineering News, 2015, 93, 7.
- "How Transcription Factors Depart Their Targets In Cells," Chemical & Engineering News, 2015, 93, 25.
- "Research finds protein regulation linked to cells' growth cycle," Cornell Chronicle, July 2015.
- "The Scientist: Prof. Peng Chen Studies Reactions On the Nanoscale", Cornell Daily Sun, March 19, 2014.
- "Imaging method identifies most active catalyst particles", Chemical & Engineering News, 2013, 91, 31.
- "Proteins barge in to turn off unneeded genes and save energy", Cornell Chronicle, September 5, 2012.
- "Study Reveals Understanding Surface Defects is Important to Design Better Fuel Cells" by Cameron Chai on Azom.com.
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"Catalytic Particles Feature Spatial-Activity Hot Spots" by Mitch Jacoby, Chemical and Engineering News, 2012, 90, 53.
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"Mapping the reactivity of single nanocatalysts" by Nina Notma, Chemistry World, February 22, 2012.
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"To make better fuel cells, study the defects" by Bill Steele, Cornell Chronicle, February 20, 2012.
- “Picture perfect pentacene” by James Mitchell Crow, Chemistry World, January 2011, 46-49.
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"Pinpointing catalytic reaction sites on carbon nanotube walls" by Michael Berger, Nanowerk, April 21, 2009.
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"Single-Molecule Fluorescence Events Seen In Real Time" by Mitch Jacoby, Chemical& Engineering News, April 20, 2009, 87, 38.
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"Catalytic behaviour of SWCNTs scrutinised" by Nina Notman, Chemistry World, April 20, 2009.
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"Finding how carbon nanotubes work as catalysts could lead to cleaner fuels" by Bill Steele, Cornell Chronicle.
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"Single nanocatalyst behavior revealed" by Nina Notman, Chemistry World, February 18, 2009.
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Chemistry Today (in Japanese), February 2009, page 12. [pdf]
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"Monitoring catalysis one particle at a time," Nanotechnology Alert, Jan 23, 2009, Frost & Sullivan.
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"Scrutinizing Catalysts" by Mitch Jacoby, Chemical & Engineering News science highlight, 2008, 86, 9.
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"When A Good Nanoparticle Goes Bad," National Science Foundation press release.
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"New method can capture catalysis, one molecule at a time," by Bill Steele, Cornell Chronicle.
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"When a Good Nanoparticle Goes Bad," news highlight by Cornell Center for Materials Research.
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"Watching A Catalyst at Work," New Energy and Fuel.
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"Gold study 'could lead to smart catalysts being produced'" Gold News.