What is our logo?
Our MRSEC logo shows the arrangement of atoms at the surface of a crystal. Crystals are made up of layers, or "planes" of atoms, perfectly stacked in an ordered pattern. Because this surface has been cut at a slight angle to the crystal planes, it appears "stepped" (we call this type of surface a vicinal surface). Modern scanned-probe microscopes, such as the STM, allow us to see the atoms at the surface of a crystal, producing images very similar to this one.

University of Maryland

Materials Research Science and Engineering Center

Seed 1: Assembly and Immobilization of Functional Nanomaterials for Device Applications

Senior Investigators

• John T. Fourkas (leader), Chemistry & Biochemistry
• Wolfgang Losert, Physics, IPST, IREAP
• Ben Shapiro, Bio-Engineering, Aerospace Engineering
• Edo Waks, Electrical & Computer Engineering, IREAP, JQI

Creating specific functional patterns of nanoscale objects is one of the great challenges in nanotechnology. No current single technique can accomplish this goal for a broad range of nanomaterials or combinations of nanomaterials. The focus of our seed project is to develop a general set of techniques for patterning and immobilizing multiple nanoscale objects to form new, functional nanomaterials for a wide range of applications. These techniques will give us the ability to create new materials and devices that will be of fundamental importance and will have significant impacts in physics, chemistry, engineering, and other areas of science and technology. For proof-of-principle of this concept, we are focusing on the creation of new plasmonic nanomaterials.

Highlights

• For the complete list, see the Highlights page

Publications

• View the Seed publications list