Ralph Nuzzo

Research

Our research is concerned broadly with the chemistry of materials. Of significant interest in this work are studies of complex processes occurring at surfaces and interfaces. The study of such phenomena requires the use of state of the art methods of spectroscopic analysis and physical characterization. Our studies also make extensive use of state of the art methods and instrumentation for imaging complex chemical systems. Such microscopies also provide useful adjunct methods for characterizing and manipulating nanoscale materials. We continue to be centrally involved in developing analytical protocols to elucidate the nature of adsorbate and interfacial structure as well as characterize their dynamics using state of the art methods of vibrational spectroscopy. This work impacts areas as diverse as the design of flat panel displays and the fabrication of chemical sensors and microelectonic arrays.

Our studies explore many systems with an interest in defining the mechanisms involved in the growth of useful materials structures from molecular and other precursors. This work is integrated with a larger set of research interests directed at the development of novel methods of micro/nanoscale fabrication and molecular patterning. This work is developing functional device structures for microelectronics, optics, chemical sensing, and detection—ones derived from a wide range of materials, spanning metals, semiconductors, biological materials, and ultimately cells. These studies involve many points of collaborative interactions with our colleagues here and at other institutions.

Our current work also emphasizes studies of complexity and emergent properties in condensed matter systems. In this research we seek to elucidate the most fundamental bases that underlay the properties of complex matter and molecular assemblies. The phase behaviours of complex organic adsorbates at surfaces and interfaces, especially self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) are areas of great interest to us in this regard. This work has broad impacts, as the self-assembly of adsorbates at phase boundaries underlies a broad range of current problems in technology. In such work, we examine thin polymer films that are useful for microfabrication and bioanalytical measurements, biomimetic structures, microporous membranes, and SAMs supported on a variety of materials for application as platforms in studies of important interfacial phenomena. We use a variety of powerful probes that allow us to establish the characteristics of the local molecular structures present in such materials and use that information to develop predictive structure-property correlations of complex systems that extend out to macroscopic length scales.

Publications

"Heterogeneously Integrated, Three Dimensional Electronics by Use of Printed Semiconductor Nanomaterials," Ahn, J-H.; Kim, H-S.; Lee, K. J.; Jeon, S.; Kang, S. J.; Sun, Y.; Nuzzo, R. G.; Rogers, J. A. Science 2006, 314, 1754-1757.

"Quantitative Multispectral Biosensing and 1-D Imaging Using Quasi-3D Plasmonic Crystals," Stewart, M. E.;. Mack, N. H.; Malyarchuk, V.; Soares, J. A. N. T.; Lee, T.-W.; Gray, S. K.; Nuzzo, R. G.; Rogers, J. A. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 2006, 103, 17143-17148.

"Preparation of TiO2-Supported Au Nanoparticle Catalysts from a Au13 Cluster Precursor: Ligand Removal Using Ozone Exposure versus a Rapid Thermal Treatment," Xu. F.; Menard, L. D.; Nuzzo, R. G.; Yang, J. C. J. Catal. 2006, 243, 64-73.

"Unusual Non-Bulk Properties in Nanoscale Materials: Thermal Metal-Metal Bond Contraction of ?-Alumina-Supported Pt Catalysts," Kang, J. H.; Menard, L. D.; Nuzzo, R. G.; Frenkel, A. I. J. Amer Chem. Soc. 2006, 128, 12068-12069.

"Micron and Submicron Patterning of Polydimethylsiloxane Resists on Electronic Materials by Decal Transfer Lithography and Reactive Ion-Beam Etching: Application to the Fabrication of High-Mobility, Thin-Film Transistors" Ahn, H.; Lee, K. J.; Childs, W. R.; Rogers, J. A.; Nuzzo, R. G.; Shim, A. J. Appl. Phys. 2006, 100, 084907/1-084907/7.

"High Speed, Mechanically Flexible Single Crystal Silicon Thin Film Transistors on Plastic Substrates," Ahn, J.-H.; Kim, H.-S.; Lee, K. J.; Zhu, Z.; Menard, E.; Nuzzo, R. G.; Rogers IEEE Electron. Dev. Lett. 2006, 27(6), 460-462

"Bendable GaN High Electron Mobility Transistors on Plastic Substrates," Lee, K. J.; Meitl, M. A.; Kumar, V.; Adesida, I.; Rogers, J. A.; Nuzzo, R. G. J. Appl. Phys. 2006, 100, 124507/1-124507/4.

"Sub-Nanometer Au Monolayer Protected Clusters Exhibiting Molecule-like Electronic Behavior: Quantitative HAADF-STEM and Electrochemical Characterization of Clusters with Precise Atomic Stoichiometry," Menard, L. D.; Gao, S.; Xu, H.; Twesten, R. D.; Harper, A. S.; Song, Y.; Wang, G.; Douglas, A. D.; Yang, J. C.; Frenkel, A. I.; Nuzzo, R. G.; Murray, R. W. J. Phys. Chem. B 2006, 110, 12874-12883.

"Structural Dynamics of Ultra-small Monolayer Protected Clusters: Metal Core Bonding Motifs of Monodispersed Icosahedral Au13 and Larger Au Nanoparticles as Revealed by X-Ray Adsorption Spectroscopy and Transmission Electron Microscopy," Menard, L. D.; Xu, H.; Gao, S.; Twesten, R. D.; Harper, A. S.; Song, Y.; Wang, G.; Douglas, A. D.; Yang, J. C.; Frenkel, A. I.; Murray, R. W.; Nuzzo, R. G. J. Phys. Chem. B 2006, 110, 14564-14573.

"Quantitative Imaging of Protein Adsorption on Patterned Organic Thin Film Arrays using Secondary Electron Emission," Mack, N. H.; Dong, R.; Nuzzo, R. G. J. Amer. Chem. Soc. 2006, 128, 7871-7881.

"Effects of Temperature on the Alignment and Electro-optical Responses of Nanoscale Nematic Liquid Crystalline Films," Lee, L.-M., Kwon, H. J.; Nuzzo, R. G.; Schweizer, K. S. J. Phys. Chem. B 2006, 110, 15782-15790.

"Anchoring and Electro-optical Dynamics of Thin Liquid Crystalline Films in a Polyimide Cell: Experiment and Theory," Lee, L. M.; Kwon, H. J.; Kang, J. H.; Nuzzo, R. G.; Schweizer, K. S. J. Chem. Phys. 2006, 125, 024705(1-16).

"A Passive Microfluidic Hydrogen-Air Fuel Cell with Exceptional Stability and High Performance," Mitrovski, S. M.; Nuzzo, R. G. Lab on a Chip 2006¸6, 353-361.

"Solid Object Transfer Printing By Kinetic Control Of Adhesion To A Soft, Elastomeric Stamp," Meitl, M. A.; Zhu, Z.; Kumar, V.; Lee, K. J.; Feng, X; Huang, Y. Y.; Adesida, I.; Nuzzo, R. G.; Rogers, J. A. Nature Materials 2006, 5, 33-38.

"Origin of Bulk-like Structure and Bond Distributions of Pt37 and Pt6Ru31 Clusters on Carbon," Wang, L.-L; Khare, S. V.; Chirita, V.; Johnson, D. D.; Rockett, A. A.; Frenkel, A. I.; Mack, N. H.; Nuzzo, R. G. J. Amer. Chem. Soc. 2006, 128, 131-142.

"Additive Soft Lithographic Patterning of Submicron and Nanometer-Scale Large Area Resists on Electronic Materials," Ahn, H.; Lee, K. J.; Shim, A.; Rogers, J. A.; Nuzzo, R. G. Nano Letters 2005, 5, 2533-2537.

"A High Performance Plasmonic Crystal Chemical Sensor," Malyarchuk, V.; Hua, F.; Mack, N. H.; White, J. O.; Nuzzo, R. G.; Rogers, J. A. Optics Express 2005, 13, 5669-5675.

"Recent Progress in Soft Lithography," Rogers, J. A.; Nuzzo, R. G. Materials Today, 2005, 8, 50-56.

"Large Area, Selective Transfer of Microstructured Silicon (µs-Si): A Printing-based Approach to High Performance Thin Film Transistors Supported on Flexible Substrates," Lee, K. J.; Motala, M. J.; Meitl, M. A.; Childs, W. R.; Menard, E.; Shim, A. K.; Rogers, J. A.; Nuzzo, R. G. Adv. Mater. 2005, 17, 2332-2336.

"A Printable Form of Single Crystal Gallium Nitride for Flexible Optoelectronic Systems," Lee, K. J.; Lee, J.; Hwang, H.; Reitmeier, Z. J.; Davis, R. F.; Rogers J. A.; Nuzzo,R. G. Small 2005, 1, 1164-1168.

"Spin on Dopants for High Performance Single Crystal Silicon Transistors on Flexible Plastic Substrates," Zhu, Z.-T., Menard, E.; Hurley, K.; Nuzzo, R. G.; Rogers, J.A. Appl. Phys. Lett. 2005, 86, 133507/1-133507/3.

"Bendable Single Crystal Silicon Thin Film Transistors Formed by Printing on Plastic Substrates," Menard, E.; Nuzzo, R. G.; Rogers, J. A. Appl. Phys. Lett., 2005, 86, 093507/1-093507/3.

"An Electrochemically Driven Poly(dimethylsiloxane) Microfluidic Actuator: Oxygen Sensing and Programmable Flows and pH Gradients," Mitrovski, S. M.; Nuzzo, R. G. Lab on a Chip, 2005, 5, 634-645.

"Masterless Soft Lithography: Patterning UVO-Induced Adhesion on Poly(dimethylsiloxane) Surfaces," Childs, W. R.; Motala, M. J.; Lee, K. J.; Nuzzo, R. G. Langmuir, 2005, 21, 10096-10105.

"Photolithographic Route to The Fabrication of Micro/Nanowires of III-V Semiconductors," Sun, Y.; Khang, D.-Y; Hua, F.; Hurley, K.; Nuzzo, R. G.; Rogers, J. A. Adv. Funct. Mater. 2005, 15, 30-40.

"Large-Area Patterning of Coinage Metal Thin Films Using Decal Transfer Lithography," Childs, W. R.; Nuzzo, R. G. Langmuir 2005, 21, 195-202.

"Near-IR Luminescence of Monolayer-Protected Metal Clusters," Wang, G.; Huang, T.; Murray, R. W.; Menard, L.; Nuzzo, R. G. J. Amer. Chem. Soc. 2005, 127, 812-813.

"Fabrication of Stable Metallic Patterns Embedded in Poly(dimethylsiloxane): Patterning Applications in Non-Planar Electronic and Lab-on-a-chip Devices," Lee, K. J.; Fosser, K. A.; Nuzzo, R. G. Adv. Funct. Mat. 2005, 15, 557-566.

"Self-Assembled Monolayers of Thiolates on Metals as a Form of Nanotechnology," Love, J. C.; Estroff, L. A.; Kriebel, J. K.; Nuzzo, R. G.; Whitesides, G. M. Chem. Rev. 2005, 105, 1103-1169.

Awards

• Fellow of the AVS, 2007
• World Innovation Foundation, Fellow, 2005
• American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Fellow, 2005
• ACS Arthur Adamson Award for Distinguished Service in the Advancement of Surface Chemistry in 2003
• Senior Editor of Langmuir
• Distinguished Technical Staff Award, Bell Laboratories

Highlights