Title：Nanocomposite Materials with Enhanced Optical Properties for Chemical and Biological Applications
Time：10:00 am, Thurthday ,April 21,2011
Speaker：XU Qing-Hua, Associate Professor (Tenured)（Department of Chemistry National University of Singapore）
Location：Conference Room , Institute of Polymer Opto-electrical Materials and Components , SCUT North Campus
Abstract：
In this talk, I will present our recent research work on nanocomposite materials with enhanced optical properties and their various applications. We used two different strategies to improve the optical properties of the small molecules. One method is based on energy transfer from conjugated polymers. Conjugated polymers are novel low-dimensional materials with many interesting optical and electronic properties. Particularly conjugated polymers display optical amplification via fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET). They can thus be used as one- and two-photon light harvesting complexes to develop light based applications with enhanced efficiency. We have used conjugated polymers as platform to develop various applications for chemical and biological sensing and photodynamic therapy. The second approach is to develop plasmon engineered nanocomposite materials. Noble metal nanoparticles are known to display interesting phenomenon called Plasmon resonance, which could be utilized to develop nanocomposite with significantly enhanced linear and nonlinear optical properties. I will present our recent work on plasmon enhanced fluorescence of the small chromophores and coupled nanostructures, as well as their applications in two-photon sensing.
Brief introduction to Dr.XU：
Dr.Xu received his Ph.D. in 2001 from UC Berkeley. He conducted the postdoctoral research at Stanford University and UC Santa Barbara before he joined National University of Singapore in 2005. His primary research interest is development of various light based applications such as sensing, imaging, photosensitization and optoelectronics using nanomaterials and organic/polymer materials, as well as investigation of the underlying fundamental mechanisms and photophysical processes using various novel optical spectroscopy and imaging techniques. For more information about the research in his group, please visit http://staff.science.nus.edu.sg/~chmxqh/.