Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin go to home page university of texas at austin college of engineering U T direct
Brian Korgel, PhD
Temple Professor #1 & Matthew Van Winkle Regents Professor of Chemical Engineering

photo of Brian Korgel
Office: CPE 4.474 Mailing Address:
Phone: (512) 471-5633 The University of Texas at Austin
Fax: -- Department of Chemical Engineering
Email: korgel@che.utexas.edu 1 University Station C0400
UT Mail: C0400 Austin, TX 78712-0231

Research Group Web Site

Presentation made to prospective graduate students 2007

Educational Qualifications:
Ph.D., University of California at Los Angeles (1997)
Matthew Van Winkle Regents Professorship in Chemical Engineering, 2007-Present;

Awards and Honors:
Edith and Peter O'Donnell Award The Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Science of Texas (TAMEST) (2009)
Frank A. Liddell, Jr. Centennial Fellow in Chemical Engineering, 2002-2007;
Chevron Centennial Teaching Fellow, 2001-2002;
Roy-Somiya Medal of the International Solvothermal and Hydrothermal Association (ISHA), 2008
Fulbright Senior Scholar, 2007-2008 (Spain)
2001 Engineering Foundation Young Faculty Award;
3M Non-tenured Faculty Grant Award, 2001;
2001 Discover Magazine Awards for Technological Innovation Finalist;
Halliburton/Brown & Root Young Faculty Excellence Award, 2000;
National Science Foundation CAREER Award, 2000;
DuPont Young Professor Award, 2000;
European Union TM&R Fellow; University College Dublin (1997-1998);
UCLA Alumni Distinguished Scholar, 1997;
Texas Materials Institute member

Industrial and Academic Leadership:
Visiting Professor, Université Josef Fourier, Department of Physics, 2008
Visiting Professor, Universidad de Alicante, Department of Applied Physics, 2007-2008
Associate Editor, Journal of Crystal Growth
Associate Editor, Materials Science and Engineering: R
Editorial Advisory Board, Chemistry of Materials
Texas Nanotechnology Scientific Review Board
Co-Founder, Innovalight, 2002
Co-Founder, Piñon Technologies, 2007
Advisor: AIChE student chapter (1999-2003)
Director, Doctoral Portfolio Program in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology at UT Austin

Focus:
 Develop new methods for synthesizing nanostructured materials, fabricating devices based upon these materials,
and studying their properties.

Research:
Nanotechnology can be defined as the study of material properties and interactions on a nanometer length scale. Our experimental group focuses on investigating size-tunable material properties, and the rational self-assembly and fabrication of nanostructures with atomic detail. This research finds applications in microelectronics and photonics, spintronics, coatings, sensors and biotechnology.

Synthesis:

Nanowires have great potential in the study of unidirectional current flow and as local interconnects of nanometer-scale electronic devices. The synthesis and characterization of nanowires is critical in accessing their use. Germanium nanowires several micrometers in length can be grown at supercritical temperature and pressures in cyclohexane using gold nanocrystals to seed the wire growth. The temperature, concentration of the solution and nature of the precursor have and effect on the nanowires morphology. Characterization of the nanowires includes XPS, XRD, high-resoln. TEM and SEM, nanometer-scale EDS mapping, and DTA.

We have developed the synthesis of silicon and germanium nanocrystals in high temperature supercritical fluids. Thermal decomposition or reduction of silicon precursors at high temperatures and pressures results in sterically stabilized, highly crystalline particles with size-tunable optical properties. Characterization of the nanocrystals includes TEM, XPS, XRD, SAXS, photoluminescence, NMR, IR, mass spectroscopy, AFM and UV-Vis spectroscopy.

Devices:

Some examples of device fabrication include 3D close packed silver nanoparticles in interdigitated arrays. These nanoparticle superlattices show linear current-voltage behavior while ordered fcc. At a particular temperature the fcc superlattice goes through a order-disorder transisition. Below this temperature, the superlattice behaves like a metal and above it behaves like an insulator. Disordered close packed nanocrystals exhibited insulating behavior at all temperatures. Other devices presently being explored include electron transport through nanowires and individual particles.

Biotechnology:

Interfacing nerve cells with nanostructures opens the doors for biomanipulation of the structures. This can be accomplished by either antibody-antigen recognition, or peptide recognition groups. Our group has explored the use of both of these techniques to attach fluoroescent semiconductor nanoparticle to living neurons. In addition, attempts are currently being made to establish electrical interactions between the nanocrystals and the biological systems, particularly through interactions directed at the nanometer scale.

Supercritical Fluids:

Silver and gold nanoparticles sterically stabilized by ligands can be dispersed in supercritical ethane and carbon dioxide. The dispersibility is a strong function of the size of the particle, the density of the solvent and the chemistry. For example, “CO2-philic” ligands are required to stabilize particles in supercritical CO2, whereas, hydrophobic alkane ligands stabilize the particles in supercritical ethane. Increased solvent density is needed to disperse larger particles with higher Van der Waals attractive forces, which can be utilized for size-selective particle separations.

Material & Magnetic Properties:

Manganese doped indium arsenide, grown in epitaxial layers, has been shown to exhibit a ferromagnetic Curie temperature that is dependent on the electric field strength and direction that the sample is subjected to. We are synthesizing new dilute magnetic semiconductor nanocrystals and nanowires, such as manganese-doped indium arsenide, and studying their unique size and composition tunable optical, electronic and magnetic properties. Much of the physical properties of these materials are largely unexplored and their study depends on the ability to overcome the synthetic challenges of controlling nanostructure size and composition. For example, this line of research involves incorporating dopants uniformly through the nanocrystals, controlling the dopant amount, measuring the concentration of components in the sample, and characterizing the properties of these new materials.

Selected Publications

  1. B. A. Korgel, “Semiconductor Nanowires: A Chemical Engineering Perspective,” AIChE Journal 55 (2009) 842-848.
  2. B. Koo, R. N. Patel, B. A. Korgel, “CuInSe2 Nanocrystals: Synthesis, Trigonal Pyramidal Shape, and Self-Assembly into Triangular Lattices,” Journal of the American Chemical Society 131 (2009) 3134-3135.
  3. M. G. Panthani, V. Akhavan, B. Goodfellow, J. P. Schmidtke, L. Dunn, A. Dodabalapur, P. F. Barbara, B. A. Korgel, “Synthesis of CuInS2, CuInSe2 and Cu(InxGa1-x)Se2 (CIGS) Nanocrystal ‘Inks’ for Printable Photovoltaics,” Journal of the American Chemical Society 130 (2008) 16770-16777.
  4. D. K. Smith, B. Goodfellow, D. M. Smilgies, B. A. Korgel, “Self-Assembled Simple Hexagonal AB2 Binary Nanocrystal Superlattices: SEM, GISAXS and Defects,” Journal of the American Chemical Society 131 (2009) 3281-3290.
  5. A. T. Heitsch, D. D. Fanfair, H.-Y. Tuan, B. A. Korgel, “Solution-Liquid-Solid (SLS) Growth of Silicon Nanowires,” Journal of the American Chemical Society 130 (2008) 5436-5437.
  6. D. A. Smith, V. Holmberg, D. C. Lee, B. A. Korgel, “Young’s Modulus and Size-Dependent Mechanical Quality Factor of Nanoelectromechanical Germanium Nanowire Resonators,” Journal of Physical Chemistry C 112 (2008) 10725-10729.
  7. D. K. Smith, B. A. Korgel, “The Importance of the CTAB Surfactant on the Colloidal Seed-Mediated Synthesis of Gold Nanorods,” Langmuir 24 (2008) 644-648.
  8. B. Koo, B. A. Korgel, “Coalescence and Interface Diffusion In Linear CdTe/CdSe/CdTe Heterojunction Nanorods,” Nano Letters 8 (2008) 2490-2496.
  9. D. C. Lee, D. K. Smith, A. T. Heitsch, B. A. Korgel, “Colloidal Magnetic Nanocrystals: Synthesis, Properties and Applications,” Annual Reports on the Progress of Chemistry, Section C: Physical Chemistry 103(2007) 351-402.
  10. F. M. Davidson, D. C. Lee, D. D. Fanfair, B. A. Korgel, “Lamellar Twinning in Semiconductor Nanowires,” Journal of Physical Chemistry C 111 (2007) 2929-2935.
  11. F. M. Davidson, D. C. Lee, D. D. Fanfair, B. A. Korgel, “Lamellar Twinning in Semiconductor Nanowires,” Journal of Physical Chemistry C 111 (2007) 2929-2935.
  12. A. E. Saunders, A. Ghezelbash, D.-M. Smilgies, M. B. Sigman, B. A. Korgel, “Columnar Self-Assembly of Colloidal Nanodisks,” Nano Letters 6 (2006) 2959-2963.
  13. H.-Y. Tuan, D. C. Lee, B. A. Korgel, “Nanocrystal-Mediated Crystallization of Silicon and Germanium Nanowires in Organic Solvents: The Role of Catalysis and Solid-Phase Seeding,” Angewandte Chemie-International Edition, 45 (2006) 5184-5187.
  14. M. B. Sigman, B. A. Korgel, “Strongly Birefringent Pb3O2Cl2 Nanobelts,” The Journal of the American Chemical Society, 127 (2005) 10089-10095.
  15. D. C. Lee, T. Hanrath, B. A. Korgel, “Role of Precursor Decomposition Kinetics in Silicon Nanowire Synthesis in Organic Solvents,” Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 44 (2005) 3573-3577.
  16. T. Hanrath, B.A. Korgel, “Chemical Surface Passivation of Ge Nanowires,” Journal of the American Chemical Society, 126 (2004) 15466-15472.
  17. A. E. Saunders, P. S. Shah, M. B. Sigman, T. Hanrath, H. S. Hwang, K. T. Lim, K. P. Johnston, B. A. Korgel, “Inverse Opal Nanocrystal Superlattice Films,” NanoLetters, 4 (2004) 1943-1948.
  18. D. C. Lee, F. V. Mikulec, B. A. Korgel, “Carbon Nanotube Synthesis in Supercritical Toluene,” Journal of the American Chemical Society, 126 (2004) 4951-4957.
  19. M.B. Sigman, A. Ghezelbash, T. Hanrath, A.E. Saunders, F. Lee, B.A. Korgel, “Solventless Synthesis of Monodisperse Cu2S Nanorods, Nanodisks, and Nanoplatelets,” Journal of the American Chemical Society, 125 (2003) 16050-16057.
  20. Z. Ding, B. Quinn, S. Haram, L.E. Pell, B.A. Korgel, A.J. Bard, “Electrochemistry and Electrogenerated Chemiluminescence from Silicon Nanocrystal Quantum Dots,” Science, 296 (2002) 1293-1297.
  21. J. D. Holmes, K. P. Johnston, R. C. Doty, B. A. Korgel, "Control of the Thickness and Orientation of Solution-Grown Silicon Nanowires," Science, 287 (2000) 1471-1473.
  22. J. J. Gray, D. H. Klein, R. T. Bonnecaze, B. A. Korgel, " Non-Equilibrium Phase Behavior During the Random Sequential Adsorption of Tethered Hard Disks," Physical Review Letters, 85 (2000) 4430-4433.

 

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