Overall Research Project Description The Strouse group runs a highly collaborative, interdisciplinary team of scientists including: inorganic, materials, analytical, physical, physics, engineering and biochemistry students. Utilizing the tools of spectroscopy (time-resolved optical, vibrational, structural (XRD, XAS), NMR, magnetism) and microscopy (optical and electron), the Strouse group is able to selectively synthesize, interrogate, and manipulate materials at the nanoscale to ask questions that address a wide range of physical and biological phenomenon.

Localized surface plasmon resonances (LSPRs) are interfacial phenomena that arise when free carriers (e- or h+) oscillate at a resonant frequency of light. This results in an extremely strong optical absorption feature whose frequency depends on the concentration of free carriers and their effective mass. Semiconductors offer numerous advantages over traditional metallic systems including tunable carrier density, near to mid-infrared LSPRs, and a larger number of plasmonic systems. Research in the Strouse group focuses on studying the structure-property relationships that govern LSPRs in semiconductor nanocrystals. We utilize a full suite of spectroscopic techniques (steady-state/transient absorption, solid-state NMR, magnetic circular dichroism) to investigate these nanomaterials in order to probe structural and electronic properties such as dopant deactivation, carrier effective mass, and free carrier pinning.


Students who participate in this project will focus on the synthesis and characterization of plasmonic metal oxide nanoparticles.