NanoNews Fall 2008

Volume 1, Issue 3 Fall 2008

NanoFlorida 2008 - A Smashing Success!

Nano News

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Dr. Swadeshmukul Santra (left top), Scientific Director of NanoFlorida 2008 and Assistant Professor of NanoScience and Chemistry at UCF initiates the proceedings. See more images below and on page 12.

During the planning stages of NanoFlorida 2008 the hope was that we could be able to attract 50 participants to this event. Imagine our surprise when over 200 individuals took part in this inaugural event with over 100 submitted posters & talks from universities across the state. In addition to Florida submissions we received submissions from as far away as the University of Wisconsin and Vanderbilt. We thank Siemens, Lockheed-Martin, the University of Florida,

VaxDesign, Beckman Coulter, NanoHoldings and ChemGlass for their generous support and helping to make this possible.

Dr. Swadeshmukul Santra led this event which involved talks and posters across a wide variety of

Inside this issue:

topics including: Nanomaterial synthesis and self-assembly; Physics of nanoscale systems; Nanobiotechnology/ nanomedicine; and Nanodevices/applied nanoscience.

Trophies were received by students in all these categories including a high school student from Gainesville Florida.

NanoScience Technology Center

The Director’s Corner

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Nano Faculty News

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Nano Faculty Profile: Dr. J. Manuel Perez

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Nano Student News

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Nano Student Profile: Drs. Kerry Wilson

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Nano Staff News

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Upcoming Nano Events

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12424 Research Parkway Suite 400 Orlando Florida 32826 Phone: (407) 882-1578 Fax: (407) 882-2819 http://www.nanoscience.ucf.edu

The Director’s Corner this event a reality through their participation and contributions. We expect great things from NanoFlorida 2009 and hope you will consider taking part.

The number of our NSTC students and possdocs this year has grown to over 130, representing over 20 nations. The quality of these scholars is clearly demonstrated by the local and international recognition they receive for research excellence highlighted in this and past newsletters. Recently they created a NSTC Student Body that will provide Fall is a time of transitions and we have had guidance to me, will contribute to the a busy season here at the NanoScience Techorganization of technical talks and connology Center! Thanks to the concerted ferences at UCF, and will act as a voice efforts of our students and faculty our Nanfor NSTC students and postdocs. oFlorida 2008 event was a terrific success.

As expected, our students have begun to Hundreds of people from all over Florida visited the NanoScience Center, attended the move forward in their individual career NanoFlorida event, and were exposed to the paths. As part of this process we bid possibilities inherent to this scientific explo- fond farewell to a number of those sturation. We received abstracts from students dents as we concurrently celebrated the graduation of our first group of Ph.D. attending many of the Florida universities, students. As noted elsewhere, Kerry including Florida State University, the UniWilson has completed his Ph.D. in versity of Florida, the University of Miami, Chemistry and will soon begin a postthe University of South Florida, Florida Indoctoral fellowship in London. Kerry stitute of Technology, and UCF. In many ways it symbolized our transition beyond the began his graduate studies at Clemson University in South Carolina and he folinitial stages of development as a group of lowed his mentor Professor James Hickindividual young academics to a vibrant man when he accepted the directorship center of learning and discovery, reaching of the center 4 years ago. Additionally, out in service across the state. We appreciMainak Das completed the requirements ate the support we received from both acafor his Ph.D. in Biomolecular Sciences demics and members of industry who made

and successfully defended his dissertation as well. Qiu Dai received his Ph.D. in Chemistry under the mentorship of Dr. Treen Huo and has moved on to a postdoc with IBM in California, Vipra Dhir received her M.S. with Dr. Peter Molnar.

We wish them all success in the next stage of their academic careers.

The NanoScience Technology Center continues to expand in the scope and depth of its scientific work. For instance, new funding was received from NIH in the form of a R01 to Dr. J. Manuel Perez for his project titled An integrated NMR/ magnetic nanosensor system for detection of bacteria and toxins. This $800k project will address the need for point-ofcare, field-based analysis for water- and food-borne toxins and bacteria that cause diseases. Additionally, Nano faculty members have begun a new green energy initiative to expand our work in this important research field (see http:// www.nanoscience.ucf.edu/research/ green.php) that will range from the creation of highly efficient thin-film photovoltaic devices to development of advanced hydrogen fuel cells. These widely different projects are the earmarks of a truly interdisciplinary group of investigators and I commend them on their success in this highly competitive realm and urge them to continue their creative, collaborative endeavors.

Debra R. Reinhart, Ph.D., PE

Nano Faculty News We welcome 4 new Nano Joint Appointments We are happy to welcome 4 new members to our faculty which demonstrate the multidisciplinary nature of our group.

These include: Drs. Joseph Brennan Associate Professor of Mathematics; Quanfang Chen Associate Professor in Mechanical, Materials, and Aerospace Engineering; Beatriz Roldan Cuenya, Assistant Professor in Physics; as well as Nicoleta Sorloacia-Hickman joint appointment in NanoScience and at the Florida Solar ce Energy Center.

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Energy Center.

Hickman, an Assistant Professor at the Florida Solar Energy Center and a former student of Dr. Alexandru Stancu’s.

Dr. Mikhail Roco to attend 2009 NSF/Romania Conference Dr. Roco is the central spokesperson for the National Nanoscience Initiative (NNI).

This conference will be led by Dr. James Hickman, the Founding Director of the NSTC, in the U.S., while Professor Alexandru Stancu, the Director of CARPATH, will coordinate this project in Romania.

Hickman will receive assistance from Romanian nationals at UCF Dan Marinescu, a professor and prominent researcher, and Nicoleta Sorloaica-

NanoScience Center Graduates its first group of Students Congratulations to: Kerry Wilson (Ph.D. in Chemistry) & Mainak Das (Ph.D.Biomolecular Sciences) who received training with Dr. James Hickman; to Qiu Dai (Ph.D. Chemistry) who was trained by Dr. Treen Huo; and to Vipra Dhir who received her M.S. in BiomolecularSciences with Dr. Peter Molnar. We wish them all great success!

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Nano Faculty Profile: Dr. J. Manuel Perez

Dr. J. Manuel Perez (left) and his team of students and investigators at UCF (right).

Dr. J. Manuel Perez, an Assistant Professor at NSTC with appointments at the Department of Chemistry and the Burnett College, earned his bachelor/master degree in Chemistry at the University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez and completed his Ph.D. in Chemistry at Boston University with Dr Richard A. Laursen, as well as a post-doctoral fellowship from Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts General Hospital under the mentorship of Dr. Ralph Weissleder, the Director of Harvard’s Center for Molecular Imaging Research. Dr. Perez’ research interest focuses on the development of polymer coated metallic and metal oxide nanoparticles for applications in molecular imaging and diagnostics. In particular, his group is actively involved in the chemical conjugation of these nanoparticles with various ligands to create sensitive sensor for in vivo and in vitro applications. For instance, Dr. Perez has recently secured funding from NIH in the form of a prestigious new investigator’s R01 award titled: An integrated NMR/magnetic nanosensor system for detection of bacteria and toxins.

Over the four years of this project, with over $800,000 in direct funds, Dr Perez and his research team will create novel magnetic nanosensors for the selective and sensitive detection of bacteria and toxins. Eventually this technology will allow field based evaluation of the safety of water and food supplies. Furthermore, Dr Perez’s group is working on nanoparticle-based assay for the determination of bacterial susceptibility to antibiotics and bacterial drug resistance.

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A depiction of how Dr. Perez’s nanoparticles can be used to detect the presence of bacteria (left) in blood samples as well as the development of high-throughput assays for bacterial susceptibility to antibiotics (right).

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Nano Student News Kudos to Students for their help in NanoFlorida 2008

Thanks to all the students who gave their time generously to make NanoFlorida a possibility!

Satyender Goal receives prestigious ACS award

Congratulations to Satyender Goel for receiving the Graduate Student Excellence Award-Chemical Computing Group from the 236th American Chemical Society's National conference held in Philadelphia this year. We are proud of Satyender and wish him great success in the years to come!

Binh Tran awarded UCF grant Binh Tran, an undergraduate student major in chemistry, has been awarded an undergraduate research grant from UCF’s Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR). This grant will support his project titled Synthesis of Conjugated Polymer/Silica Core-Shell Nanoparticles performed in conjunction with Dr. Lei Zhai's Laboratory. Binh was admitted to UCF’s Research and Mentoring Program (RAMP) which provides $1,400 to support his research.

Strange Halloweeen Events When we arrived at the NanoScience Center on Halloween strange sightings were reported (thanks to the handiwork of Michelle Shirzad). Brave Biomedical Sciences Graduate Student Anul Asati fought off a giant arthropod in the entryway along with our IT Coordinate Michael “Iceman” Broome and a cowboy (Esteban Martinez) from UCF’s Office of Research.

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Nano Student Profile: Dr. Kerry Wilson

Dr. Kerry Wilson (left) relaxing by the fire (right in white shirt) after passing his Ph.D. defense.

Kerry is originally from California, but grew up in Aiken, South Carolina. Kerry completed a Bachelor's degree in Biology at Clemson and a Masters of Science in BioEngineering at Clemson University. He just completed the defense of his Ph.D. thesis in Chemistry at the University of Central Florida under the mentorship of Dr. James J. Hickman. "I have one main project. It is the reflex arc on-a-chip project where we are growing muscle cells on cantilevers and also on motor neurons, to try and get the motor neurons to innervate the muscle so you can stimulate the muscle and then flex their cantilever and measure it with an atomic force microscope (AFM). So you have a little laser that bounces off the bottom of it and you can measure the stress generated by the muscle fiber on the cantilever. The whole reflex arc project is aimed at building an in vitro analogue of the spinal reflex arc for studying ALS, spinal cord injury, and this is also applicable to bioprosthesis and robotics." Some examples of Kerry’s work are depicted below from his recent article in the journal Lab on a Chip. Kerry is now headed for the London Centre for Nanotechnology (http://www.london-nano.com ) at the University College of London to begin a post-doctoral fellowship.

Experimental setup (left) and a simplified schematic (right) of the AFM detection system including a fluorescence image of the myotube stained for alpha actin (bottom on right) from Wilson et al (Lab on a Chip, 2007).

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Nano Staff News New Lab Manager Arrives!

We would like to welcome Caxton Haughton to the NanoScience center. Born and raised in Virginia, Caxton received his BSEE degree from University of Virginia in 1970. Caxton served as an Artillery Officer in the U S Army 1970-1973, he worked for Westinghouse Electric Corporation Marine Division as a Field Engineer supporting US and UK navy submarines. Caxton has traveled far and wide and his past work locations included 4 west coast cities, 5 east coast cities, and 2 naval bases in Scotland. Caxton has 36 years experience repairing mechanical, electrical, hydraulic and pneumatic systems. Caxton has been happily married for 33 years, and has two sons in their early thirties who also in Orlando. Caxton enjoys surf casting and walking at Florida beaches. Caxton will be very busy keeping our rapidly expanding center operational.

Nano Staff Profile: Ms. Ushaben Lal

Welcome to the NanoScience Center Caxton !

Ms. Lal, (Usha to all of us) has been with the NanoScience Center for the past year and has quickly become an integral part of our busy center. In addition to being an outstanding mother to a teenage daughter and a wife she is the Travel Coordinator for our entire center of over 130 people. Usha handles our ongoing scheduling, travel and seminar arrangements with confidence and ease. Usha grew up and graduated from college in the city of Baroda, Gujarat State of India. Usha has a fascinating international background, for instance she has since lived in Suva (Fiji), Auckland (New Zealand) and Sydney (Australia) prior to moving to Orlando.

Usha met her husband (Natvar Lal) who was visiting India from Fiji Island. In 1981 they married, moved to Fiji and lived there for 5 years. Usha comments that "Life in Fiji was totally different compared to life in India. Fiji is a beautiful place, it has crystal clear blue sea water with very relaxing beach/coast line. Local Fijians are very friendly people and their main trade is sugarcane crop , sugar production and tourist industry.

However women did not go to work and took care of family and house hold tasks.

Initially, it was a shocking experience and took me a good two years to settle down in this new lifestyle."

Usha continues that: "My husband Natvar is a Chartered Accountant and in 1986, he was offered a promotion which included first a short term position in Auckland New Zealand and then a permanent transfer to Sydney, Australia. Again, a huge change in my life. I felt like a fish that was picked up from a pond and put in a sea. We were totally new to this big city/country. Now, I had opportunity to explore my knowledge and build up new contacts and use my education and work experience. Due to my dedication to work, and keen eye to expand my knowledge, I excelled. In 1994, we were blessed with a beautiful daughter named AASHNA who is now a teenager. Life in Sydney was a lot of fun and we were happy there. Another transfer occurred in July 2006 and then we moved to Orlando. Living in the US has been another transition, but we have adjusted. Living in Florida is similar to living in Australia, it is warm, the beaches are close by, but I had to get used to driving on the wrong side of the street."

Usha enjoys cooking, travelling, coordinating Indian weddings/religious functions, meeting people and is a big cricket fan. Usha has experience working in the education industry for the last 20+ years and we are so lucky she has chosen to work with our team.

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NanoScience Technology Center Seminars Jerzy Leszcynski - Jackson State University

Friday, Sept. 5, 2008, 3:30pm - 4:30pm

Bryan Huey - University of Connecticut

Thursday, Sept. 18, 2008, noon - 1:00pm

John Grey - University of New Mexico

Thursday, Sept. 25, 4:00pm - 5:00pm

Oleg Prezhdo - University of Washington

Monday, Oct. 6, 2008, 1:00pm - 2:00pm

Robert A. Weiss - University of Connecticut

Thursday, Oct. 9, 2008, 1:15pm - 2:15pm

Gonzalo Cosa - McGill University

Friday, Oct. 10, 2008, noon - 1:00pm

Rao Y. Surampalli - Environmental Protection Agency

Monday, Oct. 13, 2008, noon - 1:00pm

Zi-Kui Liu - Penn State University

Monday, Oct. 13, 2008, 1:15pm - 2:15pm

Amanda Haes - University of Iowa

Thursday, Nov. 6, 2008, noon - 1:00pm

Kathleen Richardson - Clemson University

Friday, Nov. 21, 2008, 1:15pm - 2:15pm

Ken Wynne - Virginia Commonwealth University

Friday, Nov. 21, 2008, 3:30pm - 4:30pm

Sanjay Sampath - Stoney Brook University

Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2008, 1:15pm - 2:15pm

John Perepezko - University of Wisconsin

Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2008

Upcoming Nano Conferences SPIE Photonics West January 24th—29th, 2009 San Jose, CA TMS Annual Meeting February 15th 19th, 2009 San Francisco, CA NanoBio Expo 2009 February 18th—20th Tokyo Japan Trends in Nanoscience 2009 February 28th—March 4th, 2009 Kloster Irsee, Germany

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American Chemical Society National Meeting 2009 March 22nd—26th, 2009 Salt Lake City, UT 2009 Materials Research Society April 13th—17th, 2009 San Francisco, CA Foundations of Nanoscience April 20th —24th, 2009 Snowbird, UT BioNano 2009

May 3rd—7th, 2009 Houston, TX NanoTech 2009 May 3rd—7th, 2009 Houston, TX Joint US/Romanian Nano Workshop Please consider coming to Iasi, Romania for a fantastic workshop with NSTC faculty members. The keynote address will be provided by Dr. Mihail Roco, Senior Advisor for Nanotechnology at NSF. Dr. Roco happens to be a Romanian expatriate and has graciously offered to participate.

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New Green Energy Thrust at NSTC! The faculty at the NanoScience Technology Center have decided to focus their attention on one of the perplexing challenges of our time: energy. Our interdisciplinary center is uniquely equipped to explore these concepts which range from thin-film photovoltaic development, to hydrogen fuel cell and storage issues, utilizing a wide array of techniques such as computational modeling, the fabrication of functional nanomaterials and the creation of integrated nanoelectronics for optimal performance. For more information about our Green Energy Thrust (GET) at our center see http://www.nanoscience.ucf.edu/research/green.php.

For instance, one challenge in the creation of highly efficient thin-film photovoltaic solar cells is the use of materials that are tailored for this application. Towards this goal, Dr. Qun Huo and Dr. Lei Zhai at the NSTC at University of Central Florida have developed novel conductive block copolymer systems to disperse and stabilize carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in different solvent media and polymer matrices without disrupting the structure of CNTs (Figure 1). The conjugated polymer blocks such as polythiophenes can form strong p-p interactions with carbon nanotube walls, while the non-conjugated polymer blocks will provide the de-bundled CNTs with good solubility and stability in a wide range of organic solvents and host polymer matrices. Additionally, the functional non-conjugated blocks can introduce various functional groups on the CNT surface. A series of block copolymers including P3HT-bPS, P3HT-b-PMMA have been utilized to fabricate CNT polymeric nanocoposites with unique mechanical and electrical properties.

The conductive block copolymers not only provide a universal system to disperse carbon nanotubes but also introduce other interesting properties into the system. For example, a unique superhydrophobic and conductive nanocomposite thin film coating was fabricated through an extremely facile solution casting process using P3HT-b-PS/CNT systems. This approach can be applied to a variety of substrates extending from glass, silica wafers, gold, to aluminum foil, fabrics and papers. In addition to superhydrophobicity, the film also exhibits high electrical conductivity and excellent sensitivity for various gases without moisture interference. These properties, combined with the ease of fabrication and large surface area provided by the porous morphology, make the conductive block copolymer/CNT composites promising materials for many potential applications. These findings will help advance the creation of more efficient devices for a variety of applications. For instance, the targeted applications include: piezoelectric actuators and power generators using CNT/polyvinylidene difluoride composites, organic photovoltaics, sensors free of moisture interference, ultra-thin lithium ion batteries and supercapacitors and ultra-thin electromagnetic bandgap (EBG) absorbers. The research results have led to two papers in the journal of Advanced Materials and one paper in Advanced Functional Materials.

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200μm Figure 1. (a,b) Schematic illustration of dispersing CNTs by a conjugated block copolymer and the structure of P3HT-b-PS; c) HRTEM image of a single MWCNT covered by a thin layer of P3HT-b-PS; d) Magnified view of the honeycomb structure showing rrP3HT-b-PS-rich ridge and MWCNT-rich base; e) Fluorescence image of the honeycomb structure; f) A digital photo image of a 10 μL water droplet on superhydrophobic surface with a contact angle of 159.6°.

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More Examples of NSTC Energy Projects For more information see http://www.nanoscience.ucf.edu/research/green.php Nanoscale Optoelectronic Materials and Devices for Energy Conversion Nanostructure of materials and interfaces is a key issue in achieving improved efficiencies for organic photovoltaic devices (OPV) and organic light emitting diodes (OLED). Dr. Andre Gesquiere is exploring these possibilities.

One Dimensional Semi-Conducting Architectures for Hybrid Solar Cells Dr. Swadeshmukul Santra’s lab is synthesizing CdTe nanorods/nanowires for making solution processable CdTe/O3HT hybrid film.

Conductive Supramolecular Assemblies with High Charge Mobility As more strain is placed on current energy supplies, due to increasing demand, solar energy will become an indispensable addition to available energy resources. The team assembled by Dr. Lei Zhai is engaged in research in this area.

Computer Modeling for the Energy Conversion Technologies of the Future One of the research directions in Dr. Artem Masunov’s group is theory and modeling of energy conversion processes and design of functional materials used for that purpose.

Catalysts for Direct Alcohol Fuel Cells and Alternative Energy Sources It is of crucial importance to find suitable catalysts for the electrochemical oxidation of alcohols (ethanol and methanol) for use in direct alcohol fuel cells which is a topic of investigation for Dr. Diego Diaz.

Schottky Based Gas Sensors Dr. Diego Diaz is also investigating the science of porosity for semiconductors and their applicability for resistivity based gas sensors.

Novel Molecular Electroluminescent Devices: Redox Active Dendrimers and Ligands The integration of electrochemistry and scanning probe microscopy will permit the preparation of desired surface morphologies based on redox active molecules which Dr. Diego Diaz’s team is also exploring.

Integrated Photovoltaic Device Development Dr.Ming Su’s group has fabricated vertical glass spike arrays using glass fiber drawing and differential etching, followed by the Plasmon enhanced chemical vapor deposition of conductive oxide thin films.

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Recent NSTC Publications J. W. Rumsey, M. Das, J. F. Kang, R. Wagner, P. Molnar and J. J Hickman, Tissue Engineering Intrafusal Fibers: Dose and Time Dependent Differentiation of Nuclear Bag Fibers in a Defined In Vitro System using Neuregulin Biomaterials 29:994-1104 (2008).

J. Liu, J.W. Rumsey, P. Molnar, M. Das, C. Gregory, L. Riedel and J. J. Hickman, Electrophysiological and Immunocytochemical Characterization of DRG Neurons on an Organosilane Surface in Serum Free Medium In Vitro Cellular & Developmental Biology 44:162-168 (2008) J. Rolland, K-S. Lee, A. Mahmood, L. Fluck, J. Duarte, I. Kaya, A. Santhanam, P. Meemon, S. Murali, O. Ilegbusi, P. Kupelian, A.M. Kachurin, W.L. Warren, P. Molnar, J.J. Hickman and P.K. Kolattukudy, Eds J.D. Westwood, R.S. Haluck, H.M.Hoffman, G.T. Mogel, R. Phillips, R.A. Robb, K.G. Vosburgh, Collaborative Engineering: 3-D Optical Imaging and Gas Exchange Simulation of In-Vitro Alveolar Constructs, in Studies in Health Technology Informatics 132:426-432 (2008).

A. Natarajan, C.J. Chun, J.J. Hickman and P. Molnar, Growth and Electrophysiological Properties of Rat Embryonic Cardiomyocytes on Hydroxyl- and Carboxyl-Modified Surfaces, Journal of Biomaterials Science: Polymer Edition 19(10):1319-1331 (2008).

V. Thakore, A. Behal, P. Molnar, D.C. Leistritz, and J.J. Hickman, Nanoscale Nonlinear Dynamic Characterization of the Neuron-Electrode Junction J. Comput. Theor. Nanosci. 5(11):2164-2169 (2008).

M. Ramalingam, P. Molnar, K. P. Rao and J. J. Hickman, Biomaterial Surface patterning utilizing self assembled monolayers to control neuronal cell behavior, Journal of Biomedical Engineering and Technology, Review (accepted 2008).

K. Varghese, M. Das, N. Bhargava, P. Molnar, M.S. Kindy and J.J. Hickman, Regeneration and characterization of adult mouse hippocampal neurons in a defined in vitro system,(accepted J Neurosci Methods 9-22-08).

Potential energy curves and electronic structure of 3d transition metal hydrides and their cations Satyender Goel and ArtĂŤm E. Masunov J. Chem. Phys. 129 214302 (2008).

Conformational dependence of the first molecular hyperpolarizability in the computational design of nonlinear optical materials for optical switching. Suponitsky KY, Masunov AE, Antipin My. MendeleevComm, Vol. 18 (5): 265-267 (2008).

Catalytic Role of Calix[4]hydroquinone in Acetone-Water Proton Exchange: A Quantum Chemical Study of Proton Transfer via Keto-Enol Tautomerism.

Zakharov A, Masunov AE, Dreuw A. J of Phy Chem A Vol 112(41): 10405-10412 (2008).

Quantum chemistry of the minimal CdSe clusters. Yang P, Tretiak S, Masunov AE, et al. J Chem Physics Vol. 129(7) (2008).

Applicability of hybrid density functional theory methods to calculation of molecular hyperpolarizability. Suponitsky KY, Tafur S, Masunov AE. J Chem Phy Vol. 129(4), (2008).

Chunder, A.; Etcheverry, K.; Londe, G.; Cho, H. J.; Zhai, L. Conformal Switchable Superhydrophobic/Hydrophilic Surfaces for Microscale Flow Control.

Colloids and Surfaces, A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects 2009, 333, 187.

Dhir, V.; Natarajan, A.; Stanceescu, M.; Chunder, A.; Bhargava, N.; Das, M.; Zhai, L.; Molnar, P. Patterning of Diverse Mammalian Cell Types in Serum Free Medium with Photoablation. Biotechnology Progress In Press Zou, J.; Khondaker, S. I.; Huo, Q.; Zhai, L. A General Strategy to Disperse and Functionalize Carbon Nanotubes Using Conjugated Block Copolymers.

Adv. Fun. Mater. In Press Chunder, A.; Etcheverry, K.; Wadsworth, S.; Boreman, G. D.; Zhai, L. Fabrication of Antireflection Coatings on Plastics Using the Spraying Layer-by-layer Self-assembly Technique. Journal for the Society of Information Display (invited) 2008, In Press.

Zou, J.; Chen, H.; Chunder, A.; Yu, Y.; Huo, Q.; Zhai, L. A Simple Preparation of Superhydrophobic and Conductive Nanocomposite Coating from a Carbon Nanotube-Conjugated Block Copolymer Dispersion. Adv. Mater. 2008, 20, 3337.

Sarkar, S.; Chunder, A.; Fei, W.; An, L.; Zhai, L. Superhydrophobic Mats of Polymer Derived Ceramics. J. Am. Cer. Soc. 2008, 91, 2751.

Zou, J.; Liu, L.; Chen, H.; Khondaker, S. I.; McCullough, R. D.; Huo, Q.; Zhai, L. Dispersion of Pristine Carbon Nanotubes Using Conjugated Block Copolymers. Adv. Mater. 2008, 20, 2055.

Londe, G.; Chunder, A.; Wesser, A.; Zhai, L.; Cho, H. J. Microfluidic Valves Based on Superhydrophobic Nanosctructures and Switchable Thermosensitive Surface for Lab-on-a-chip (LOC) Systems. Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical. 2008, 132, 431.

Zhang, L.; Wang, Y.; Wei, Y.; Xu, W.; Fang, D.; Zhai, L.; Lin, K.-C.; An, L. A Silicon Carbonitride Ceramic with Anomalously High Piezoresistivity. J. Am. Cer. Soc. 2008, 91, 1346.

Dielectrophoretic assembly of single gold nanoparticle into nanogap electrodes.. Yoon SH, Kumar S, Kim GH, Choi YS, Kim TW, Khondaker SI. J Nanosci Nanotechnol. 2008 Jul;8(7):3427-33.

Perez JM, Grimm J, Josephson L, Weissleder R. Integrated nanosensors to determine levels and functional activity of human telomerase. Neoplasia. 2008 Oct;10(10):1066-72.

Kaittanis C, Nath S, Perez JM. Rapid nanoparticle-mediated monitoring of bacterial metabolic activity and assessment of antimicrobial susceptibility in blood with magnetic relaxation. PLoS ONE. 2008 Sep 23;3(9):e3253.

Perez JM, Asati A, Nath S, Kaittanis C. Synthesis of biocompatible dextran-coated nanoceria with pH-dependent antioxidant properties. Small. 2008 May;4 (5):552-6.

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Recent NSTC Publications (con’t) Nath S, Kaittanis C, Tinkham A, Perez JM. Dextran-coated gold nanoparticles for the assessment of antimicrobial susceptibility. Anal Chem2008 Feb 15;80(4):1033-8.

Tallury P, Payton K, Santra S. Silica-based multimodal/multifunctional nanoparticles for bioimaging and biosensing applications. Nanomed. 2008 Aug;3(4):579-92.

Banerjee S, Kar S, Santra S.A simple strategy for quantum dot assisted selective detection of cadmium ions.Chem Commun (Camb). 2008 Jul 14; (26):3037-9.

Kar S, Santra S, Chaudhuri S. Direct synthesis of ZnS nanoribbons, micro-sheets and tetrapods. J Nanosci Nanotechnol. 2008 Jun;8(6):3222-7.

Mass-production of vertically aligned extremely long conductive micro/nanowires using fiber drawing nanomanufacturing. X. Zhang, J. Ma, Z. Yuan, M. Su. Adv. Mater. 2008, 20, 1310.

Engineering three dimensional micro-mirror arrays by fiber drawing nanomanufacturing. Z. Ma, L. Ma, M. Su. Adv. Mater. 2008, in press.

Liu X, Lloyd MC, Fedorenko IV, Bapat P, Zhukov T, Huo Q. Enhanced imaging and accelerated photothermalysis of A549 human lung cancer cells by gold nanospheres. Nanomed. 2008 Oct;3(5):617-26.

Dai Q, Coutts J, Zou J, Huo Q. Surface modification of gold nanorods through a place exchange reaction inside an ionic exchange resin. Chem Commun (Camb). 2008 Jul 7;(25):2858-60.

Dai Q, Liu X, Coutts J, Austin L, Huo Q. A one-step highly sensitive method for DNA detection using dynamic light scattering. J Am Chem Soc. 2008 Jul 2;130(26):8138-9.

Triulzi RC, Dai Q, Zou J, Leblanc RM, Gu Q, Orbulescu J, Huo Q. Photothermal ablation of amyloid aggregates by gold nanoparticles. Colloids Surf B Biointerfaces. 2008 Jun 1;63(2):200-8.

Liu X, Dai Q, Austin L, Coutts J, Knowles G, Zou J, Chen H, Huo Q. A one-step homogeneous immunoassay for cancer biomarker detection using gold nanoparticle probes coupled with dynamic light scattering. J Am Chem Soc. 2008 Mar 5;130(9):2780-2.

Triulzi RC, Dai Q, Zou J, Leblanc RM, Gu Q, Orbulescu J, Huo Q. Photothermal ablation of amyloid aggregates by gold nanoparticles. Colloids Surf B Biointerfaces. 2008 Jun 1;63(2):200-8.

A. Naitabdi, L. K. Ono, F. Behafarid, B. Roldan Cuenya, Thermal stability and segregation processes in self-assembled size-selected AuxFe1-x nanoparticles deposited on TiO2(110): Composition effects, J. Phys. Chem. C (2008), in press.

O. Lupan, L. Chow, S. Shishiyanu, E. Monaico, T. Shishiyanu, V. Sontea, B. Roldan Cuenya, A. Naitabdi, S. Park, A. Schulte, Nanostructured zinc oxide films synthesized by successive chemical solution deposition for gas sensor applications, Mater. Research Bull. 44 (2009) 63.

L.K. Ono, B. Roldan Cuenya, Size Effects on the Desorption of O2 from Au2O3/Au0 Nanoparticles Supported on SiO2, J. Phys. Chem. C 112 (2008) 18543.

J. R Croy, S. Mostafa, L. Hickman, H. Heinrich, B. Roldan Cuenya, Bimetallic Pt/Metal catalysts for the decomposition of methanol: Effect of secondary metal on the oxidation state, activity, and selectivity of Pt, Appl. Catal. A 350 (2008) 207.

B. Roldan Cuenya, W. Keune, R. Peters, E. Schuster, B. Sahoo, U. von HĂśrsten, W. Sturhahn, J. Zhao, T.S. Toellner, E.E. Alp, S.D. Bader, High energy phonon confinement in nanoscale metallic multilayers, Phys. Rev. B 77 (2008) 165410.

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More Images from NanoFlorida 2008

Nano/Materials Affiliates Program Please consider becoming one of the founding members of UCF’s Nano/Materials Industrial Affiliates Program. This program has been created to meet the needs of your company and to provide our faculty members with an interface with the commercial world.

The NanoScience Technology Center has over 20 faculty members, in 2008 we received three prestigious NSF CAREER awards and one DARPA Young Faculty Award. We seek to leverage our core state line funding of over $4M annually into exciting research findings and commercializable IP. Founding membership costs are a modest $1k/yr. Feel free to call us at 407 882-1189 or email us at anderj@mail.ucf.edu if we can answer any questions about this program.

See http://www.nanoscience.ucf.edu/industry for more information.

Orlando, FL Sept 2008

Open Faculty Position The University of Central Florida is seeking tenured full or associate professors in the NanoScience Technology Center (www.nanoscience.ucf.edu) to build on existing interdisciplinary expertise in nanoscale science in energy, photonics, imaging, quantum computing, nanomaterials and biomolecular science.

The Center is emphasizing the recruitment of senior faculty but exceptional candidates who are theoreticians will also be considered for tenure-track positions. Candidates who have an interest in commercial applications of their work or existing commercial ventures are encouraged to apply.

Review of candidates will be ongoing. Please send application with curriculum vitae, summary of research plans, and three or more references to: Ms. Rajeswari Natarajan, Assistant Director, 12424 Research Parkway, Suite 400, Orlando, FL 32826 (rnataraj@mail.ucf.edu).

UCF is an Affirmative Action Employer. Women and minorities are encouraged to apply. UCF makes all application materials, including transcripts, and all search materials available for public review upon request, as provided by Florida's open records law.

Jeffrey M. Anderson, Ph.D. Associate Director / Industrial Affiliates Liaison Page 12

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