TITLE： Single-molecule nanocatalysis: from fundamentals to solar energy conversion
SPEAKER： Prof. Peng Chen, Cornell University
TIME：June 17 (Wednesday)PM15:00
LOCATION： Fifth-floor Lecture Hall， Chemistry Building A (化学A楼演讲厅)
INVITER: 孙淮 教授、车顺爱 教授

Peng Chen is the Peter Debye Professor of Chemistry at Cornell University. He received his B.S. in Chemistry from Nanjing University, China in 1997. After a year at University of California, San Diego with Prof. Yitzhak Tor learning organic synthesis, he moved to Stanford University and did his Ph.D. with Prof. Edward Solomon in bioinorganic/physical inorganic chemistry. In 2004, he joined Prof. Sunney Xie’s group at Harvard University for postdoctoral research in single-molecule biophysics. He started his faculty appointment at Cornell University in 2005. His current research focuses on single-molecule imaging of nanoscale catalysis, as well as of metal homeostatic machineries in vitro and in vivo. He has received Dreyfus New Faculty Award, NSF Career Award, Sloan Fellowship, Paul Saltman Award, CAPA Distinguished Junior Faculty Award, Coblentz Award, and ACS Phys Division Early-Career Award in Experimental Physical Chemistry, etc.

Single-molecule nanocatalysis: from fundamentals to solar energy conversion

I will present two stories. The first is about our work in using single-molecule fluorescence microscopy to study the catalytic properties of individual metal nanoparticles at single-turnover resolution and nanometer precision. The single-molecule approach circumvents the intrinsic heterogeneity challenge among nanoparticle catalysts, so that their temporal and individual behaviors can be dissected. I will present the insights we gained into the catalytic activity and dynamics of individual metal nanoparticles, the reactivity differences of various surface sites, and the surprising spatial reactivity patterns within single facets at the nanoscale. This spatiotemporally resolved catalysis mapping also enables us to probe the communication between catalytic reactions at different locations on a single nanocatalyst, in much relation to allosteric effects in enzymes.

The second story is about using single-molecule fluorescence microscopy to image photoelectrochemical reactions on single semiconductor nanostructures. We separately image hole and electron induced reactions, driven by light and electrochemical potential, and map the reactions at single reaction temporal resolution and nanometer spatial resolution. We also correlate the surface reactivity with the overall performance of each nanostructure in photoelectrochemical splitting of water.