Carl Brozek
University of Oregon, OR·Chemistry·Early-career
The surface of a nanoparticle largely decides how it behaves, from speeding up chemical reactions to interacting with light and electricity. Yet the boundary where a solid particle meets the surrounding liquid is hard to study, because most measurement methods cannot tell surface molecules apart from those in the bulk.
- Fields
Chemistry
Materials Science
- Topics
colloidal nanoparticles
nanocrystals
metal-organic frameworks
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Dec 2029
What they work on
- Determine how nanoparticle identity shapes the structure and motion of the electrical double layer, the ion layers at a particle's surface, using vibrational sum-frequency scattering spectroscopy (VSFSS) on porous and nonporous colloids.
- Identify the chemical interactions that keep colloidal metal-organic framework (MOF) nanocrystals stably dispersed in liquid, using surface-specific VSFSS spectra.
- Test how the flexibility of MOF nanoparticle frameworks changes surface chemistry, by developing variable-temperature VSFSS measurements.
More about the research
Porous nanoparticles make the problem harder still, since they can flex like polymers.
Why it matters
This is basic science. It aims to clarify how porosity affects whether nanoparticles stay dispersed, what makes up their surfaces in liquid, and how ions arrange at porous versus solid surfaces. These insights could refine standard models of colloid surfaces. They may eventually inform the design of nanoparticles for catalysis and optoelectronic materials.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Qiang Zhang
Washington State University, WA·Chemistry
Test whether neutron absorption can transmute vanadium atoms inside vanadium metal-organic frameworks into chromium, creating mixed-metal frameworks that conventional synthesis cannot readily produce.
Feifei Shi
Pennsylvania State University, PA·Chemistry·Early-career
Characterize electrical double layer properties in lithium-ion battery electrolytes by electrocapillarity on a static mercury electrode, measuring interfacial free energy, ion surface excess and potential of zero charge.
Kui Tan
University of North Texas, TX·Chemistry
Separate the diffusion of oxoanion pollutants through metal-organic framework (MOF) pores from their binding at local sites, using in situ infrared spectroscopy in water combined with ab initio modeling.
The school
University of Oregon: 14 labs on PI Pages, $175M a year on research, 219 research doctorates a year.
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