Detail:
Abstract: Bimetallic nanostructures of specific compositions and enclosed by certain facets can significantly alter their physical and chemical properties and thus provide the opportunities to tailor them for particular applications. Despite significant progress in recent years, it is still a grand challenge to control the spatial distribution of elements and surface structure of bimetallic nanoparticles. Thus, it remains very difficult to understand the properties of bimetallic nanoparticles, and even more challenging to overcome the formidable barriers to the rational design of bimetallic nanoparticles with the desired performance. In this presentation, I will discuss the seeded growth strategy developed in our group to achieve composition and facet controls of bimetallic nanostructures. These bimetallic nanostructures provide fundamental bases to establish structure-activity relationship for optical and catalytic applications. I will discuss their use in electrocatalysis to elucidate the electronic and structural effects on the electrocatalytic activities. Fine tuning and mechanistic study of these synthetic strategies provide us fundamental understanding for precise control of bimetallic nanostructures to tackle problems in materials chemistry and open up the possibility for rational design and synthesis of future complex nanoarchitectures towards various applications. In addition, I will extend the discussion to cover our recent effort on the use of the functionalized gold nanocages for the treatment of biofilm infections through photothermal and antibiotic therapeutic synergy. This extended topic shines some light on the development of nanomedicine towards the treatment of infectious diseases. Biosketch： Dr. Jingyi Chen received a B.S. in chemistry from Zhongshan (Sun Yat-Sen) University, Guangzhou, China (1997). She came to the United States in 2001, received a M.A. in chemistry (with Professor Kimberly A. Bagley) from SUNY College at Buffalo (2002), and a Ph.D. in chemistry (with Professor Younan Xia) from the University of Washington at Seattle (2006). She worked as a postdoctoral researcher (with Professor Stanislaus S. Wong) at Brookhaven National Laboratory and then a Research Assistant Professor of biomedical engineering at the Washington University in St. Louis. In 2010, she started her independent career as a tenure-track Assistant Professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. She was promoted to Associate Professor in 2016. Her research interests include synthesis, characterization and surface modification of nanostructured functional nanomaterials for energy conversion, tribology, and biomedical applications.
