"Pencils, Paper, and Movie Discs: Curious Minds and Materials Discoveries"

Presented by: Jiaxing Huang

ABSTRACT: Curiosity is a fundamental driving force for scientific research. I will discuss a few curiosity-driven discoveries inspired by non-scientific sources that lead to new hypotheses and solutions for solving material problems. For example, crumpled paper balls in a waste basket inspired a new form of ultrafine particles that becomes aggregation-resistant and can disperse in arbitrary solvents. This illustrates a new way to achieve colloidal processability by reshaping the particles into weakly interacting morphologies, without the need for surface chemistry. In another example, nanopatterns in Blu-ray movie discs are found to be useful for improving the performance of solar cells through light trapping. This inspires a new way to design nanopatterns with the help of information processing algorithms. Finally, I will share a few examples of how curiosity-driven enquiry enhances student learning experience. In one example, a question asked by students after class inspired their creation of sensors from office and toy pencils.

BIO: Jiaxing Huang is an Associate Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Northwestern University. His main research interest is in the general area of material chemistry and processing. In teaching, he encourages students to develop intuition and exercise creativity. In addition to early career awards from the National Science Foundation, the Sloan Foundation, the Society of Manufacturing Engineers and the Prairie Chapter of American Vacuum Society, his work has been recognized by a quadrennial Fissan-Pui-TSI Award from the International Aerosol Research Assembly, a Guggenheim Fellowship and a JSPS Fellowship.