Purdue University School of Chemical Engineering Graduate seminar series Prof. Stephen Z.D. Cheng College of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering University of Akron "Giant Molecules Based on 'Nano-Atoms': A New Platform for Engineering Structures at Nanometer Feature Sizes" Thursday, December 5, 2013 9:00-10:15 a.m. FRNY G140 Reception at 8:30 a.m. in Henson Atrium Abstract: To create new materials with multiple functionalities for advanced technologies, control over their hierarchical structures and orders is vital for obtaining the desired properties. Our research focuses on a new route to build up materials via giant molecules based on "nano-atoms". We utilize molecular nano-particles (MNPs) to be the basic unit for "nano-atoms" which are compact and rigid, possess precisely-defined symmetry and surface functionalities. These NMPs may be polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS), [60]fullerene (C60), polyoxymatalates, and globular proteins. With the help of those accurately-defined surface functionalities to generate collective physical bonds to construct giant molecules which are precisely defined macromolecules. Giant moelcules include shape amphiphiles, giant polyhedra and giant surfactants etc. While these particles share some common features, they are intrinsically different in many ways, such as the overall shape, physical properties, and chemical composition. By diverse periphery functionalization, they serve as versatile "nano-atoms" for the construction of giant molecules with controlled hierarchical structures in multi-dimensions across different length scales. A large variety of thermodynamically stable and metastable hierarchal structures is observed in the bulk, thin-film, and solution states of these "giant molecules". All the results demonstrate that MNPs are unique elements for macromolecular science, providing a versatile platform for engineering nanostructures that are not only scientifically intriguing, but also technologically relevant. Bio: Stephen Z. D. Cheng received his Ph.D. degree at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at Troy, New York in 1985. His research interests are in the area of chemistry, physics and engineering of polymers and advanced functional materials including crystal structure, crystal morphology, transition thermodynamics, kinetics, molecular motions, liquid crystals, liquid crystalline polymers, hybrid materials and phase transitions of these materials with different shapes, chemical and physical architectures and interactions, as well as in nanoconfined environments. He is also in the developing researches in high performance polymers, conducting polymers, photovoltaics, and polymer photonics. He currently holds the Robert C. Musson and Trustees Professor and Dean, College of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering at The University of Akron. More than 73 Ph.D. students and 23 M.S. students have been graduated from his research group. He has published 440 articles and one book titled "Phase Transitions in Polymers: The Role of Metastable States" in 2008, and given over 650 invited talks and lectures. He has served as a senior editor of Polymer, and members of editorial and advisory boards of more than ten scientific journals. In 1991, he received The Presidential Young Investigator Award from the National Science Foundation. He was also the recipient of the American Physical Society John H. Dillon Medal (1995), the North American Thermal Analysis Society Mettler-Toledo Award (1999), the Education Ministry of China Cheung-Kong Scholar (1999), the TA-Instrument Award of International Confederation for Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry (2004), the Cooperative Research Award of Division of Polymer Materials Science and Engineering of ACS (2005), the Polymer Physics Prize of American Physical Society (2013), and was elected to be a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 1994, a Fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Science (2006), an Honorary Fellow of Chinese Chemical Society (2011), a Fellow of Division of Polymer Materials Science and Engineering of American Chemical Society(2012). In 2008, he was selected to be a member of the National Academic of Engineering of the USA.