Dissertation Defenses

Doctoral Dissertation Announcement

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Candidate: Minghong Liu

Degree of: Doctor of Philosophy

Department: Chemistry

Title: Isotropic and Anisotropic Metallic and Bimetallic Nanoparticles and Their Potential Applications in Biology

Committee:
Dr. Sherine O. Obare, Chair
Dr. Ekkehard Sinn
Dr. Andre Venter
Dr. William Cobern

Date: Wednesday, July 14, 2010 9:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
Chemistry Building, Room 2401

Abstract:
The development of synthetic procedures that produce nanoscale materials with controlled morphology is a significant area of investigation in nanotechnology. We have developed new synthetic procedures for fabrication of isotropic and/or anisotropic nanomaterials composed of palladium, ruthenium, nickel and alloys of palladium-ruthenium. The nanomaterials were fully characterized and were found to display unique size dependent properties. The electrochemical properties of isotropic palladium, ruthenium and palladium-ruthenium nanoparticles were investigated and the results show that the particles are capable of charge storage and charge transfer on demand. Anisotropic palladium, ruthenium and palladium ruthenium nanoparticles were also fabricated and fully characterized. The nanoparticles display unique magnetic properties. We further investigated the surface modification of inherent magnetic nanoparticles. The particles were found to have a strong affinity toward biological cells but lacked toxicity toward the cells. The work is effective toward developing new methods for using nanoparticles for cell targeting.