Dr. Xiaoying Liu received her BS and MS degrees from the Department of Chemistry at Fudan University, Shanghai, China. Her master’s thesis focused on synthetic methodologies for semiconductor nanomaterials and mesoporous materials using block copolymers as structure-directing agents. She got her PhD in physical chemistry with Professor Cynthia Friend from the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard University in 2009. Her research at Harvard focused on establishing molecular-level understanding of catalytic processes—and the oxidative transformations of hydrocarbons and alcohols, in particular—to provide the framework for the design of environment-friendly and energy-efficient chemical processes.
Dr. Liu worked as a postdoctoral associate for three years with Professor Klavs Jensen at the Department of Chemical Engineering at MIT, where she developed continuous flow technologies for heterogeneous catalysis and multistep synthesis of amides in microfluidic systems. She joined the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (PME) in 2012 as a senior research scientist, working with Professor Paul Nealey on chemical pattern directed assembly of colloidal nanoparticles to construct multicomponent heterostructures in addressable arrays for nanophotonic materials. In her current role as Senior Lecturer and Laboratory Director for Molecular Engineering, Dr. Liu has designed, developed, and taught the laboratory components of the PME undergraduate major program and oversees the overall development and operation of the undergraduate laboratory.
Nanoparticles (NPs) with interesting optical, electrical, chemical, and magnetic properties have shown great potential in a broad range of scientific fields and technological regimes, such as plasmonics, nanoelectronics, catalysis, and memory. The selective immobilization and organization of NPs with high degrees of specificity and control in pattern dimensions and densities is of significant importance in the translation to next-generation devices for technological applications. For example, the efficiency of solid-state single-photon emitters, the central topic in the growing field of quantum optics and quantum cryptography, is strongly dependent upon their electromagnetic environment, which can be engineered by precise placement of plasmonic nanostructures in its sub-wavelength proximity.
However, the efficient and precise positioning of multi-component NP assemblies still remains a major challenge. Bottom-up fabrication approaches based on spin-casting or AFM tip manipulation create hybrid structures with either poor reproducibility or low throughput while top-down fabrication methods suffer from limitations in feature sizes, surface roughness control, or throughput. Another bottleneck in the translation to on-chip device implementation is the lack of spatial control of individual components on solid surfaces at macroscopic scale. Therefore, these two problems need to be addressed simultaneously to exploit multicomponent hybrid nanostructures in practice.
Dr. Xiaoying Liu’s current research is to use chemically nanopatterned surfaces to fabricate large-scale arrays of NP hybrid structures with each component at well-defined position. The precise chemical contrast patterns with densities and resolution of features created over large areas using standard tools of lithography, polymer self-assembly, and surface functionalization allow for control of position and interparticle spacing through selective surface-particle interactions in combination with particle-particle interactions. Such interactions afford substantial flexibility to direct the particle organization process by engineering the surface functionalities of both substrates and NPs.
Directed self-assembly of colloidal particles onto nematic liquid crystalline defects engineered by chemically patterned surfaces
Li, Xiao, et al. "Directed self-assembly of colloidal particles onto nematic liquid crystalline defects engineered by chemically patterned surfaces." ACS nano 11.6 (2017): 6492-6501.
Hybrid nanostructures of well-organized arrays of colloidal quantum dots and a self-assembled monola
Liu, XY; McBride, SP; Jaeger, HM; Nealey, PF. Hybrid nanostructures of well-organized arrays of colloidal quantum dots and a self-assembled monola. Nanotechnology. 2016. Vol. 27, Pg. 285301.
Directed Self-Assembly of Hierarchical Supramolecular Block Copolymer Thin Films on Chemical Pattern
Guang-Peng Wu, Xiaoying Liu, Xuanxuan Chen, Hyo Seon Suh, Xiao Li, Jiaxing Ren, Christopher G. Arges, Faxue Li, Zhang Jiang and Paul F. Nealey. Directed Self-Assembly of Hierarchical Supramolecular Block Copolymer Thin Films on Chemical Pattern. Advanced Materials Interfaces. 2016.
Plasmon-Mediated Two-Photon Photoluminescence-Detected Circular Dichroism in Gold Nanosphere Assembl
Jarrett, JW; Zhao, T; Johnson, JS; Liu, XY; Nealey, PF; Vaia, RA; Knappenberger, KL. Plasmon-Mediated Two-Photon Photoluminescence-Detected Circular Dichroism in Gold Nanosphere Assembl. The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters. 2016. Vol. 7, Pg. 765-770.
Self-Assembled Nanoparticle Arrays on Chemical Nanopatterns Prepared Using Block Copolymer Lithograp
M. Serdar Onses, Lei Wan, Xiaoying Liu, N. Burak Kiremitler, Hatice Yılmaz, and Paul F. Nealey. Self-Assembled Nanoparticle Arrays on Chemical Nanopatterns Prepared Using Block Copolymer Lithograp. ACS Macro Letters. 2015. Vol. 4, Pg. 1356–1361.
Deterministic Construction of Plasmonic Heterostructures in Well-Organized Arrays for Nanophotonic M
Liu, XY; Biswas, S; Jarrett, JW; Poutrina, E; Urbas, A; Knappenberger, KL; Vaia, RA; Nealey, PF. Deterministic Construction of Plasmonic Heterostructures in Well-Organized Arrays for Nanophotonic M. Advanced Materials. 2015. Vol. 27, Pg. 7314.
Communication: SHG-detected circular dichroism imaging using orthogonal phase-locked laser pulses
Jarrett, J.W.; Liu, X.;Nealey, P.F.;Vaia, R.A.; Cerullo, G; Knappenberger, K.L.. Communication: SHG-detected circular dichroism imaging using orthogonal phase-locked laser pulses. Journal of Chemical Physics. 2015. Vol. 142, Pg. 151101.
Nonlinear Chiro-Optical Amplification by Plasmonic Nanolens Arrays Formed via Directed Assembly of G
Biswas, S; Liu, XY; Jarrett, JW; Brown, D; Pustovit, V; Urbas, A; Knappenberger, KL; Nealey, PF; Vaia, RA. Nonlinear Chiro-Optical Amplification by Plasmonic Nanolens Arrays Formed via Directed Assembly of G. Nano Letters. 2015. Vol. 15, Pg. 1836–1842.
Roadmap on optical metamaterials
Urbas, A. M. Jacob, Z. Dal Negro, L. Engheta, N. Boardman, A. D. Egan, P. Khanikaev, A. B. Menon, V. Ferrera, M. Kinsey, N. DeVault, C. Kim, J. Shalaev, V. Boltasseva, A. Valentine, J. Pfeiffer, C. Grbic, A. Narimanov, E. Zhu, L. X. Fan, S. H. Alu, A. Poutrina, E. Litchinitser, N. M. Noginov, M. A. MacDonald, K. F. Plum, E. Liu, X. Y. Nealey, P. F. Kagan, C. R. Murray, C. B. Pawlak, D. A. Smolyaninov, I. I. Smolyaninova, V. N. Chanda, D.. Roadmap on optical metamaterials. Journal of Optics. Vol. 18, Pg. 093005.