Controlled Nanomaterials for Plasmonics & Nanocatalysis
Our team aims to bring the dream of a sustainable world closer to reality.
We envision replacing fossil fuels with sunlight as a sustainable energy input to drive, accelerate and control molecular transformations important for generating green energy, mitigating climate change, providing a cleaner environment, and manufacturing medicines, chemicals, and biofuels.
Our research merges Chemistry, Plasmonics, and Catalysis. We develop designer nanoparticles marrying catalytic and optical properties to enable the next generation of molecular transformations driven by visible light and under mild conditions.
We employ solution-phase strategies for the synthesis of inorganic nanomaterials having well-defined and controlled physicochemical features such as size, shape, structure, and composition. As the properties of a nanostructure are related to these parameters, their control offers a unique opportunity to maximize and optimize performances and move towards the development of nanomaterials by design.
Our work has been funded by the Academy of Finland, the Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation, the University of Helsinki, Business Finland, the Finnish Defense Forces, and EU Horizon 2020. In addition to being part of HELSUS (Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science), we have collaborations with different and amazing teams of complementary expertise across the globe in the areas of synthesis, catalysis, characterization, and modeling.