A. Paul Alivisatos to Receive 2011 Von Hippel Award for Colloidal

SOCIETY NEWS of these quantum dots may enable new types of solar photovoltaic and solar A. Paul Alivisatos fuel generators. In the last decade, Alivisatos has to receive 2011 demonstrated the emergence of “arti¿ cial molecules,” where small numbers of col- Von Hippel Award loidal nanoparticles are joined together into speci¿ c “molecular” arrangements for colloidal nanoparticles with controlled symmetry and connectiv- ity. These new “molecular” systems have opened a new area of materials for discovery and innovation. An important breakthrough by Alivisatos he 2011 Von Hippel Award, the and growth, as well as the time scales in this area has been the demonstration TMaterial Research Society’s high- involved, and upon the concept of “size of the “plasmon ruler,” which, for ex- est honor, will be presented to A. Paul distribution focusing,” in which the ample, can measure the distance between Alivisatos, director of the Lawrence distribution of nanoparticle sizes is nar- two Au nanocrystals joined by DNA or Berkeley National Laboratory and Larry rowed when small particles grow faster peptides to measure dynamical distance and Diane Bock Professor of Nanotech- than large ones. Proof of the high quality changes in biological systems. nology, University of California–Berke- of nanocrystals is gleaned from studies Another important area Alivisatos ley. Alivisatos is being recognized for of optical properties, as well as from has pioneered is the study of chemical “the development of the fundamental studies of the structural transformations transformations of colloidal nanocrys- scienti¿ c basis for growing and utiliz- of nanoparticles under high pressure, tals. He has also demonstrated methods ing defect-free colloidal semiconductor demonstrating the absence of defects. for making branched nanocrystals, dis- nanoparticles, providing the basis for The synthesis of high-quality colloidal covered the nanoscale Kirkendall effect, biological imaging, solid-state light- nanocrystals rests upon key work by a general approach for making hollow ing, and the capture and conversion of Alivisatos, and is an essential component nanoparticles, and has developed con- solar energy to electricity.” Alivisatos of the development of colloidal quantum cepts of ion exchange in nanocrystals will accept the honor during the awards dots and other nanocrystals. as a means of separately controlling the ceremony at the 2011 MRS Fall Meeting Colloidal quantum dots are the size of composition, size, and shape of a col- in Boston. a protein molecule, and when appropri- loidal nanocrystal system. One of the most important building ately functionalized, can be introduced Alivisatos received a Bachelor’s blocks of nanoscience is the colloidal inside cells and tissues as biological degree from the University of Chicago nanocrystal. High-quality, defect-free labels. They are used currently in À uo- in 1981, and a PhD degree in physi- colloidal inorganic nanoparticles of rescent imaging in biology because they cal chemistry from the University of controlled size and shape are now made do not bleach and they yield a family of California–Berkeley in 1986. He was a routinely by thousands of research solid-state materials with a wide range postdoctoral fellow at AT&T Bell Labs groups around the world, and their size- of emission colors and superior lumi- (1986–1988). He joined the Universi- dependent properties are widely studied. nescence characteristics, yet they can ty of California–Berkeley as a faculty A few key foundational studies by Alivi- be processed in solution to make them member in 1988. He became director of satos and co-workers provided an un- biocompatible. Alivisatos founded the Lawrence Berkeley National Labora- derstanding of the underlying principles Quantum Dot Corporation, which makes tory in 2009. and scaling laws needed for this class of colloidal quantum dots commercially Alivisatos has over 220 publications material to be developed. available to researchers. and over 15 patents. He is the scienti¿ c Alivisatos has mapped out the size- In 1994, Alivisatos and co-workers founder of Quantum Dot Corp.; Nano- dependent melting of quantum dot demonstrated the ¿ rst light-emitting di- sys, Inc.; and Solexant, Inc. and found- semiconductor materials, showing how odes made with colloidal quantum dots, ing editor of Nano Letters. it is possible to anneal out defects, and the basis of some early quantum dot His honors include the Alfred P. to eject impurities from a growing col- solid-state lighting products with low Sloan Foundation Fellowship; the ACS loidal nanoparticle formed at just a few manufacturing cost, high color purity, Exxon Solid State Chemistry Fellow- hundred degrees C, well below the tem- and low energy consumption. Similarly, ship; the Coblentz Award; the Wilson peratures needed to form high-quality colloidal quantum dots are under investi- Prize at Harvard; the Materials Research epitaxial two-dimensional ¿ lms. Alivisa- gation in a range of solar cell designs de- Society Outstanding Young Investigator tos also showed that size control depends veloped by Alivisatos and co-workers— Award; the ACS Award in Colloid and upon careful separation of nucleation the low cost and high volume processing Surface Chemistry; the Rank Prize; the MRS BULLETIN • VOLUME 36 • OCTOBER 2011 • www.mrs.org/bulletin 811 SOCIETY NEWS Eni Italgas Prize for Energy and Envi- of Sciences and the American Academy qualities most prized by materials sci- ronment; the Ernest Orlando Lawrence of Arts and Sciences. entists and engineers—brilliance and Award; and the Kavli Distinguished The MRS Von Hippel Award includes originality of intellect, combined with Lectureship in Nanoscience, MRS. He a $10,000 cash prize, honorary member- vision that transcends the boundaries of is a fellow of both the American Physical ship in MRS, and a unique trophy—a conventional disciplines, as exempli¿ ed Society and the American Association for mounted ruby laser crystal, symboliz- by the life of Arthur von Hippel (http:// the Advancement of Science. In 2004, he ing the many faceted nature of materials vonhippel.mrs.org). was elected into the National Academy research. The award recognizes those had tremendous impact, and his team’s ring oscillator built on a single CNT is still the most complex functional mo- Phaedon Avouris lecular device achieved. Avouris has led the development of CNT optoelectron- selected for 2011 ics, raising hopes for a uni¿ ed electronic and optoelectronic technology based on David Turnbull Lectureship one material. In graphene, Avouris and his team fabricated nanoribbon FETs and demonstrated GHz operation, achieved record performance in graphene RF transistors on SiC, and produced the ¿ rst photodetector operating from the he Materials Research Society’s Avouris’s early nanoscience work fo- infrared to the ultraviolet. TDavid Turnbull Lectureship recog- cused on the physical chemistry of the In addition to his research contribu- nizes the career of a scientist who has surfaces of solids with adsorbed atoms tions to nanoscience (over 400 publica- made outstanding contributions to under- and molecules, using high-resolution tions and 25,000 citations), Avouris has standing materials phenomena and prop- electron energy-loss spectroscopy. With contributed to the development of the erties through research, writing, and lec- the development of the scanning tunnel- ¿ eld of nanoscience in other ways. He turing, as exempli¿ ed by the late David ing microscope (STM), Avouris realized organized an early conference on nano- Turnbull of Harvard University. This year its potential for performing electron technology in 1992, sponsored by NATO Phaedon Avouris of IBM’s T.J. Watson spectroscopy with atomic resolution. and the Engineering Foundation, and Research Center in Yorktown Heights, He made the ¿ rst observations of local edited one of the ¿ rst books on nanosci- New York, has been selected to give the changes in the electronic structure of a Si ence, Atomic and Nanometer Scale Mod- 2011 Turnbull Lecture. Avouris is cited surface upon chemical bond formation, i¿ cation of Materials (Plenum, 1993). “for his development of nanoscience and and published early studies of surface He co-organized the first conference nanotechnology, in particular for chemical reactions, electron standing on “Atomic Level Electronics” (Adria- carbon nanotubes, graphene and waves on surfaces, and STM tip-induced tico Research Conference), the first semiconductor surfaces, through imag- reactions. Engineering Foundation Conference on ing and measurement of their electronic Avouris’s recent work has focused “Nano- and Molecular Electronics,” the structure and electrical properties; their on carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and gra- ¿ rst U.S. National Academy Conference chemical and physical modi¿ cation by phene for electronics and photonics on Nanoscience, and numerous sympo- scanning probe techniques; and their in- applications. He is a leader in the ¿ eld sia on nanoscience and nanotechnology corporation into advanced electronic and of carbon electronics, developing an for various professional conferences. He photonic devices.” Avouris will be pre- early CNT ¿ eld-effect transistor (FET), was a founding member of the Nanome- sented with the award at the 2011 MRS demonstrating the potential of CNTs to ter Scale Science and Nanotechnology Fall Meeting in Boston. outperform silicon transistors, building division of the American Vacuum Soci- Avouris’s research work spans a broad the ¿ rst logic gate

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