Physical chemistry is concerned with the fundamental principles of chemistry, and serves as the underpinning for all other branches of chemical sciences.
Ph.D. students choose from graduate classes in Molecular Quantum Chemistry, Statistical Thermodynamics, Chemical Kinetics, Condensed Matter Physics, Molecular Dynamics and Biomolecular Simulation, Molecular Spectroscopy.
Anne Kelley's group focuses on using the inelastic laser-light scattering technique of resonance Raman spectroscopy to study atomic-level details of how molecules interact with light; the nonlinear optical properties of materials; and analytical applications of metal nanoparticles.
David Kelley's group uses ultrafast optical spectroscopy to examine the optical and electronic properties of semiconductor nanoparticles that have potential in solar photovoltaics and display technologies.
Tao Ye's group employs scanning probe microscopy to understand how molecules self-assemble at surfaces and interfaces.
Erik Menke's group studies light absorption and exciton generation in semiconductor nanowires.
Son Nguyen’s group studies the photocatalytic mechanism of metallic nanocrystals via chemical kinetic and spectroscopic methods.
Liang Shi's group employs theory and simulation to study heterogeneous molecular systems for energy applications.
Shahar Sukenik's lab combines biophysical spectroscopic methods, microscopy, and simulations to study how protein structure and self-assembly are affected by changes to solution composition.
The Thompson Lab combines the techniques of experimental physical chemistry and traditional structural biology to explore the conformational landscapes of protein molecules and identify the structural states and molecular motions that define their biological activities.
Representative Publications
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David Morgan and David F. Kelley, “What Does the Transient Absorption Spectrum of CdSe Quantum Dots Measure?” J. Phys. Chem. C., 124, 15, 8448. (2020)
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Pan X, Thompson M, Zhang Y, Liu L, Fraser JS, Kelly MJS, Kortemme T., "Expanding the space of protein geometries by computational design of de novo fold families," Science. (2020)
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Anne Myers Kelley, "Can second order nonlinear spectroscopies selectively probe optically 'dark' surface states in small semiconductor nanocrystals?" J. Chem. Phys. 152, 120901. (2020)
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Mao, Z. ; Espinoza, R. ; Garcia, A. ; Enwright, A. ; Vang, H. ; Nguyen, S. C., "Tuning Redox Potential of Gold Nanoparticle Photocatalysts by Light," ACS Nano, 14, 7038 (2020)
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Cao, H. H., Abel, G. R., Jr, Gu, Q., Gueorguieva, G.-A. V., Zhang, Y., Nanney, W. A., Provencio, E., Ye, T., "Seeding the Self-Assembly of DNA Origamis at Surfaces," ACS Nano, (2020)
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Y. Yu and L. Shi, "Vibrational solvatochromism of the ester carbonyl vibration of PCBM in organic solutions." J. Chem. Phys. 151, 064501 (2019)
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D Cai, D Feliciano, P Dong, E Flores, M Gruebele, N Porat-Shilom, S Sukenik, Z Liu, J Lippincott-Schwartz, "Phase separation of YAP reorganizes genome topology for long-term YAP target gene expression," Nature Cell Biology, 21, 578–1589. (2019)
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S Sukenik, S Dunsky, A Barnoy, I Shumilin, D Harries, "TMAO mediates effective attraction between lipid membranes by partitioning unevenly between bulk and lipid domains," Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 19 (44), 29862-29871. (2017)
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Eric Josephs and Tao Ye. A Single-molecule view of conformational switching of DNA tethered to a gold electrode. J. Am. Chem. Soc.,134, 10021-10030 (2012)
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Anne Myers Kelley. Electron-phonon coupling in CdSe nanocrystals from an atomistic phonon model. ACS Nano 5, 5254-5262 (2011)
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Somnath Ghosh, Justin E. Hujdic, Alfredo Villicana-Bedolla, and Erik Menke, Gold Core-Semiconductor Shell Nanowires Prepared by Lithographically Patterned Nanowire Electrodeposition, J. Phys. Chem. C, 115 (2011) 17670
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Anne Myers Kelley. Hyper-Raman scattering by molecular vibrations. Ann. Rev. Phys. Chem. 61, 41-61 (2010)