So-Jung Park

Associate Professor of Chemistry
Inorganic, Materials and Nanoscale Chemistry

Office: 251N
Phone: (215) 746-2354
Fax: (215) 898-6242
Email: sojungpsasupennedu
Research Group Website: http://parkgroup.chem.upenn.edu/index.html

Jump to: Research Statement | Education and Academic History | Selected Publications

Research Statement
Our research involves synthesis and characterization of nanoscale inorganic solids and their hybrids with functional bio/organic materials. Nanometer scale inorganic solids exhibit fascinating properties that are different from their bulk counterparts. Their properties can be tailored by controlling their sizes, shapes, and surface functionalities as well as their compositions. Furthermore, when they are organized into ordered superstructures, new sets of optical and electrical properties can be created. Many of these properties introduce challenging scientific questions and also provide much opportunity for innovation in a variety of technologies ranging from quantum computing to biosensors.

Our goal is to understand how the structure of individual particles and their spatial organization affect these physical properties and use that knowledge to design new materials with useful properties. To achieve this, we use concepts and tools from several different disciplines. We adopt self-assembly principles in biology to control nanoparticle growth and their assembly structure. We use a variety of spectroscopic and structural characterization techniques including single molecule spectroscopy and scanning probe microscopy to develop detailed understanding on their structure-property relationship. We are particularly interested in 1) colloidal metal/semiconductor heterostructures for bioanalysis applications, 2) organization of inorganic nanostructures in lipid supramolecular assemblies, and 3) controlling energy carriers in nanostructured materials, interfaces, and devices.

Education and Academic History

Selected Publications
Park, S. -J.; Gesquiere A. J.; Yu J.; Barbara P. F., "Charge Injection and Photooxidation of Single Conjugated Polymer Molecules", J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2004, 126, 4116.

Park, S. -J.; Taton, T. A.; Mirkin, C. A., "Array-Based Electrical Detection of DNA with Nanoparticle Probes", Science, 2002, 295, 1503.

Lee, K. -B.; Park, S. -J.; Mirkin, C. A.; Smith, J. C.; Mrksich, M.,"Protein Nanoarrays Generated by Dip-Pen Nanolithography",
Science, 2002, 295, 1702.

Park, S. -J.; Lazarides, A. A.; Mirkin, C. A.; Brazis, P. W.; Kannewurf, C. R.; Letsinger, R. L., "Electrical Properties of Au Nanoparticle Assemblies Linked by DNA", Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2000, 39, 3845.