ABSTRACT: Experimental evidence has accumulated in recent years that nanoscale structures can self-assemble, leading to ordered nanophase patterns. In a structure, collective actions of photons, electrons and ions contribute to the free energy. When the configuration changes, the free energy also changes. This free energy change defines a thermodynamic force which, in its turn, motivates the configuration change of the structure. Insight into these forces becomes increasingly valuable as the structures of technological interest miniaturize. This talk presents some of our recent work on self-organized nanostructures and guided self-assembly. Examples include self-organized nanophase patterns on solid surfaces, guided assembly by surface chemistry and strain field, irradiation induced organized nanovoids and nanobubbles in a solid, patterning multilayer of molecules via dipole interaction, electric field induced ordered polymer nanostructures, and self-organized metallic quantum dots. The study reveals remarkably rich dynamics and suggests a significant degree of experimental control in growing ordered nanoscale structures.

RESUME: Wei Lu is associate professor with tenure in the Mechanical Engineering department, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He joined the university as assistant professor in 2001, after received his Ph.D. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Princeton University in the same year. Before that, he received his bachelor and graduate degrees from Tsinghua University. His research interest includes nanoscale self-assembly, mechanical properties of nanostructures, electric field processing of polymers, structure-property relation of shape memory alloys and ferroelectric materials. Prof. Lu has over 50 peer-reviewed journal publications, and given over 30 invited talks in major US universities, national labs and international conferences. He also has abundant publications in national and international conferences, encyclopedia and book chapters. He is associate editor of the Journal of Computational and Theoretical Nanoscience. Among his awards include the Robert J. McGrattan Award by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the Robert M. Caddell Memorial Award by the University of Michigan, and the National Science Foundation Career Award.