Events

The importance of excitons in the science and technology of semiconductor nanocrystals

February 18, 2009 at 3pm/36-428

Moungi G. Bawendi
Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

abstract:
The wish to understand and harness fundamental excitonic processes in semiconductor nanocrystals (aka quantum dots) has catalyzed much of the progress in the preparation of these nanoscale building blocks. In particular, the size dependent properties of excitons and multiexcitons in quantum dots, coupled with a material that can be processed from solution, has led to potential applications in fields that include emissive displays, solar energy conversion, and biological and biomedical fluorescence imaging. A fundamental understanding of exciton and multiexcitonic processes is critical for any of these applications to become realized. Synthesis of well characterized materials is also obviously key, not only of the functional inorganic particle itself, but also the ligand shell that protects it and couples it chemically to molecules and matrices of interest. This talk will focus on the role and properties of excitons and multiexcitons as drivers for understanding the electronic structure of these nanocrystals and for motivating their applications in both biological and opto-electronic areas.

bio:
Prof. Moungi Bawendi received his AB (1982) from Harvard University and his PhD in chemistry (1988) from The University of Chicago, working with Prof. Karl Freed and Prof. Takeshi Oka. His PhD research focused on the theory of polymers and the experimental infrared spectroscopy of molecular ions in the gas phase. This was followed by two years of postdoctoral research at Bell Laboratories, working with Dr. Louis Brus, where he began his studies on nanomaterials. He joined the faculty at MIT in 1990, becoming Associate Professor in 1995 and Professor in 1996. He has followed an interdisciplinary research program that aims at probing the science and technology of chemically synthesized nanocrystals of semiconductor materials. His awards include MIT graduate and undergraduate teaching awards (1994, 1997), the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Prize in the Physical Sciences (2001) for his work in nanotechnology, and the EO Lawrence Award in Materials Chemistry from the US Department of Energy (2006). He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2003) and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2004), and a member of the National Academy of Sciences (2007).