Abstract:
A fundamental challenge in materials science is to create new and useful structures. Sometimes, seemingly complex structures can be created by simple objects, and flexible soft materials can be fabricated through self-assembly of hard matters. In this lecture, I will first show the hierarchical structures created using simple Janus motif. Janus amphiphilic particles can be viewed as a colloidal version of surfactant, and form unique clusters and fibrillar structures through supracolloidal assembly. Single particle tracking revealed unique kinetic pathways. In a 2D crystal formed by Janus particles, positioned in an ordered hexagonal lattice, particle rotation was highly correlated and demonstrated glassy dynamics. Furthermore, I will discuss different fabrication methods and using Janus particles to stabilize emulsions. Finally, I will demonstrate how nanoparticle assembly can help improve material performance in biomedical and coating applications.

Short bio:
Dr. Shan Jiang is an Assistant Professor in the Materials Science and Engineering department at Iowa State University. He obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, working with Professor Steve Granick on Janus particles. After graduation, he furthered his study at MIT Langer lab as a postdoc. He then worked at the Dow Chemical Company as an application scientist. He was the Dow Certified Green Belt Project Leader and worked on binder platform development for different products. Dr. Jiang has published one U.S. patent and more than 30 peer reviewed articles in journals, such as: Science, Nature Biotechnology, Physical Review Letters, Nano Letters and Advanced Materials. His research has been cited more than 1600 times. He is the chief editor for the book Janus Particle Synthesis, Self- assembly and Applications. He has also peer reviewed more than 100 journal articles. Dr. Jiang was awarded with the Racheff-Intel Award for Outstanding Graduate Research. He also received Conference Travel Awards from the MIT Postdoctoral Association and the University of Illinois. The technology he participated in developing at Dow received the Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award and the R&D 100 Award. He was the recipient of the 2015 ACS Younger Chemists Committee Leadership Development Award, and was a Franklin Institute Science Engagement Fellow. He was recently nominated for 3M Non-Tenured Faculty Award.