Zhiwei Li
Richard P. Van Duyne Postdoctoral Fellow
Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University
Research
Majored in physical chemistry, I focus my research on developing active materials, including smart nanostructures for advanced bioimaging, biomimetic soft robots, responsive photonic crystals and plasmonic nanostructures, by combining physical chemistry with advanced characterization techniques, program coding, and multiphysics simulation. These projects lead to twenty-four first- and corresponding-author papers published in peer-reviewed journals, including Science, Science Robotics, Science Advances, Nature Communications, Chemical Reviews, JACS, Advanced Materials, Nano Letters, and ACS Nano.
News & Events
Discovery of Quadrupole Field Chirality
The assembly of particles into chiral superstructures is usually directed with chiral templates such as DNA, which bind the particles, or by using lithographic methods. Li et al. showed that applying the chiral quadrupole field generated by permanent magnets to dispersed magnetic nanoparticles creates long-range chiral superstructures that adopt the field chirality. The tunability of the field enables control over the superstructure handedness, chirality, and pitch. Hybrid particles composed of gold nanorods and magnetite displayed tunable circular dichroism and optical rotary dispersion signals.
—By Phil Szuromi, Science deputy editor
The Inaugural Richard P. Van Duyne Postdoctoral Fellow
This award is named in honor of the late Richard P. Van Duyne, a long-time faculty member in the Department of Chemistry at NU and pioneer in nanotechnology, who is perhaps best known for his discovery and development of surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). It recognizes the immense impact that Rick had on nanotechnology research and education at NU. The Van Duyne Fellowship supports young scientists and engineers, who have recently received a doctoral degree, and demonstrate outstanding talent and promise in the field of nanotechnology.
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Selected Publications
A magnetic assembly approach to chiral superstructures
Li, Z.; Fan, Q.; Ye, Z.; Wu, C.; Wang, Z.; Yin, Y.,
Science, 2023 380 (6652) 1384-1390.
(PDF), (Link), (Science Research Highlights)
Light-powered soft steam engines for self-adaptive oscillation and biomimetic swimming
Li, Z.; Myung, N., V.; Yin, Y.,
Science Robotics. 2021, 6 (61), eabi4523.
Coupling morphological and magnetic anisotropy for assembling tetragonal colloidal crystals
Li, Z.; Qian, C.; Xu, W.; Zhu, C.; Yin, Y.,
Sci. Adv. 2021, 7 (37), eabh1289.
Coupling magnetic and plasmonic anisotropy in hybrid nanorods for mechanochromic responses
Li, Z.; Jin, J.; Yang, F.; Song, N.; Yin, Y.
Nat. Commun. 2020, 11 (1), 2883. (Highlighted in Nature Portfolio)
Creation and reconstruction of thermochromic Au nanorods with surface concavity
Li, Z.; Zhang, J.; Jin, J.; Yang, F.; Aleisa, R.; and Yin, Y.,
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2021, 143 (38), 15791–15799.
Fast Fourier Transform-weighted Photoacoustic Imaging by In Vivo Magnetic Alignment of Hybrid Nanorods
Li, Z.; Meng, Z.; Tian, F.; Zhou, X.; Zhong, X.; Xiao, Y.; Chen, W.; Chen, Q.; Cheng, L.; Yang, M.; Liu, Z.; Yin, Y.
Nano Lett. 2022, 22 (13), 5158–5166.
Multicolor Photonic Pigments for Rotation‐Asymmetric Mechanochromic Devices
Li, Z.; Wang, X.; Han, L.; Zhu, C.; Xin, H.; Yin, Y.,
Adv. Mater. 2022, 34 (4), 2107398. (Frontispiece)
(PDF), (Link), (Frontispiece)
Colloidal self-assembly approaches to smart nanostructured materials
Li, Z.; Fan, Q.; and Yin, Y.,
Chem. Rev. 2021, 122 (5), 4976–5067. (Invited Review)