2025 MRS Spring Meeting & Exhibit

Symposium X—MRS/The Kavli Foundation Frontiers of Materials

Thursday, April 10
12:15 pm – 1:15 pm
Summit, Level 5, Ballroom 2

Kristen Fichthorn

The Pennsylvania State University

Predicting the Shape-Selective Synthesis of Metal Nanocrystals—A Multifaceted Approach

Metal nanocrystals have the potential to revolutionize established technologies such as  catalysis, environmental remediation, plasmonic, photonic, and electronic devices, sensing and photovoltaics. Additionally, metal nanocrystals will figure prominently in upcoming technologies, such as triboelectric nanogenerators, electromagnetic interference shielding, and a host of upcoming “smart” technologies, such as electro- and photo-chromic devices, wearable devices and e-skin. For most established applications, there is ample evidence that the efficacy of a nanocrystal is sensitive to its shape.  Theory can be beneficial in unraveling the many complex factors that can contribute to shape selectivity in solution-phase syntheses.  In this talk, I will highlight two aspects of our recent studies.  First, I will discuss the profound and synergistic role of halides, present as solution-phase additives or in metal salts, and organic additives in promoting facet-selective nanocrystal growth, oriented attachment and assembly.1-4 A second aspect is in elucidating the role of reduction kinetics in determining nanocrystal shape and phase.5 I will finish by highlighting prospects for future studies.

  1. M.J. Kim, …, K. Fichthorn, B. Wiley J. Am. Chem. Soc. 140, 14740 (2018)
  2. J. Kim, J. Cui, K. Fichthorn, ACS Nano 15, 18279 (2021)
  3. Y. Bae, …, K. Fichthorn, J. De Yoreo, D. Li (Submitted)
  4. A. Kim, …, K. Fichthorn, S. Glotzer, Q. Chen (Submitted)
  5. Q. Nguyen, …, K. Fichthorn, Y. Xia, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 146, 12040 (2024)

 

Biography

Kristen Fichthorn is the Merrell Fenske Professor of Chemical Engineering and a Professor of Physics at the Pennsylvania State University. She received a BS degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and a PhD degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Michigan. She spent one year as an IBM Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California at Santa Barbara before joining Penn State.

Professor Fichthorn’s research is primarily in multi-scale materials simulation, in which she develops and applies theoretical techniques ranging from quantum density functional theory to molecular dynamics, Monte Carlo methods, and continuum theories to a diverse array of fundamental problems involving fluid-solid interfaces. Applications lie in nanoscale materials, thin-film and crystal growth, colloidal assembly, and wetting. In addition to being recognized by Penn State for her outstanding research and teaching, she is the recipient of the NSF Presidential Young Investigator Award (1990), an Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellowship (1998), she is a Fellow of the American Physical Society (2011), a Fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (2017), a recipient of the Nanoscale Science and Engineering Forum Award of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (2019), and a recipient of the Langmuir Lectureship of the American Chemical Society (2020).