Professors Shaowei Chen and Joseph P. Konopelski of the University of California Santa Cruz and Haobin Wan of New Mexico State University are supported by the Collaborative Research in Chemistry Program to unravel the fundamental mechanism of nanoparticle-mediated electronic communication. Such behavior is typically observed in multinuclear complexes with a conjugated chemical bridge and recognized by the intervalence transfer phenomenon. This phenomenon has been largely unexplored (unseen) in nanoparticles. This study utilizes carbene-functionalized ruthenium nanoparticles as the model system. The technical innovations are applicable to the microelectronics industry as it becomes necessary to reduce feature sizes to the nanometer-size regime.
The research activities are closely integrated with outreach programs for underrepresented, minority, women, and disadvantaged undergraduate/community college students through university programs such as the UC Leadership Excellence through Advanced Degree Program, Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships and the NIH-Bridges to the Future Programs.
