Stephen Morin
Graduate Student, Analytical Chemistry
Department of Chemistry
University of Wisconsin-Madison

Biographical Sketch
B.S. University of Texas at Austin, Chemistry, 2004
PhD University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2005-Present
3M Graduate Fellow in Chemistry, 2007-Present

Research
Inspired by biomineralization processes, my research is aimed at developing strategies for the bottom up synthesis and assembly of functional nanomaterials with the ultimate goal being to simultaneously control the morphology, location, and orientation of nanoscale materials.  To that end I have expanded dislocation-driven nanowire growth to the aqueous solution synthesis of metal oxide nanowires, nanorods, and nanotubes through connection with classical crystal growth concepts and careful microstructural analysis.  This advancement may enable large scale low cost synthesis of one dimensional nanomaterials for many applications including solar energy conversion and photonics.  Furthermore, by coupling such solution synthesis with a range of nanoscale self-assembling templates (eg. block copolymers or engineered biopolymers), which are made available through several on campus collaborations, hybrid organic/inorganic materials have been generated directly from low temperature aqueous solutions.  At the heart of this research is the idea that rationally controlling the chemical functionality of the template and the supersaturation conditions of the growth solution enables selective nucleation and growth of inorganic materials achieving sophisticated structures where crystal location and morphology are simultaneously controlled.  With envisioned use in areas such as flexible macroelectronics or smart textiles these hybrid hierarchical nanostructures may be designed to fit many different types of applications.  Ongoing research continues to focus on the fundamental relationships between crystal growth mechanism, morphology, and their intersection with the interface of soft self-assembling nanomaterials in the pursuit of even better bottom-up synthesis/assembly strategies for the generation of yet more complex inorganic/organic hybrid materials.   

Selected Publications and Presentations

12) Morin, S. A.; Bierman, M. J.; Tong, J.; Jin, S. “Mechanism and Kinetics of Spontaneous Nanotube Growth Driven by Dislocations” Science, 328 (5977) (2010) 476-480

11) Morin, S.A.; Jin, S. “Dislocation-Driven Epitaxial Nanowires Directly from Aqueous Solution” In Preparation 2010. 

10) Morin, S. A.; Bierman, M. J.; Tong, J.; Jin, S. “Mechanism and Kinetics of Spontaneous Nanotube Growth Driven by Screw Dislocations” Science 2010, Accepted.

9) Morin, S. A.; La, Y. H.; Liu, C. C.; Streifer, J. A.; Hamers, R. J.; Nealey, P. F.; Jin, S. “Assembly of Nanocrystal Arrays by Block-Copolymer-Directed Nucleation” Angew. Chem.-Int. Edit. 2009, 48, 2135-2139.

8) Gottlieb, D.; Morin, S. A.; Jin, S.; Raines, R. T. “Self-Assembled Collagen-like Peptide Fibers as Templates for Metallic Nanowires” J. Mater. Chem. 2008, 18, 3865-3870.

7) Amos, F. F.; Morin, S. A.; Streifer, J. A.; Hamers, R. J.; Jin, S. "Photodetector Arrays Directly Assembled onto Polymer Substrates from Aqueous Solution" J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2007, 129, 14296-14302.

6) Morin, S. A.; Amos, F. F.; Jin, S. "Biomimetic Assembly of Zinc Oxide Nanorods on Flexible Polymers" J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2007, 129, 13776-13777.

5) Morin, S. A.; Amos, F. F.; Jin, S. “Biomimetic Assembly of Zinc Oxide Microarrays on Flexible Polycarbonate Film” PMSE Preprints 2007, 96, 227-228.

4) Amos, F. F.; Morin, S. A.; Jin, S. “Directed Nucleation and Growth of Cadmium Sulfide on Photo-oxidized Poly(ethylene Terephthalate) and their Device Applications” PMSE Preprints 2007, 96, 176-177.

3)  Maldonado, S.; Morin, S.; Stevenson, K. J. “Structure, composition, and chemical reactivity of carbon nanotubes by selective nitrogen doping” Carbon 2006, 44, 1429-1437.

2)  Maldonado, S.; Morin, S.; Stevenson, K. J. “Electrochemical oxidation of catecholamines and catechols at carbon nanotube electrodes” Analyst 2006, 131, 262-267.

1)  Maldonado, S.; Smith, T. J.; Williams, R. D.; Morin, S.; Barton, E.; Stevenson, K. J. “Surface modification of indium tin oxide via electrochemical reduction of aryldiazonium cations” Langmuir 2006, 22, 2884-2891.