Center for Functional Nanomaterials Seminar

In the past few years, my group has made several important discoveries towards understanding how nanoparticles self-assemble with amphiphilic polymers. Based on these studies, we have developed new hybrid materials with interesting magnetic and optical properties (e.g., “superparamagnetic polymersomes”, “nanoparticle microcapsules”, “multicomponent spiky nanoshells”). Furthermore, we have incorporated functional polymers such as conjugated polymers and DNA into amphiphilic structures, and have shown that their properties can be drastically modified through self-assembly (e.g., tunable photoluminescent properties of conjugated polymers, and enhanced binding properties of DNA). In particular, our nanoparticle-encapsulating DNA block-copolymer assemblies possessed unprecedentedly high binding constants, demonstrating that self-assembly is a powerful tool not only for making elaborate nanoscale architectures but also for manipulating materials properties.