The scientific research of the department focuses on the understanding and design of functional materials with unique physical and chemical properties. This includes a broad range of materials, such as solids with extended bonding displaying cooperative properties (superconductors and semiconductors); solids and liquids with mainly molecular bonding, such as complex fluids and molecular crystals; ultra-thin organic, inorganic and biological films and assemblies; size-quantized nanoparticles and fulleroids; molecularly functionalized semiconductors; metals and polymers, including polymer brushes and polymers for cloud seeding; and composites displaying unique mechanical properties. Biopolymer mechanics and molecular transport phenomena in the cell; imitation of biological transport strategies. Planned self-assembly of novel nanostructures on scanning-probe-patterned organic monolayer templates. Dr. Igor Lubomirsky who joined the department opened an activity in the field of ferroelectric materials. The macroscopic properties of these materials depend upon the nature and structure of their internal interfaces, the regions where different phases in a material come together. Several groups in the department are developing novel theoretical and experimental methodologies for probing liquid-liquid, solid-liquid, solid-solid, solid-gas and liquid-gas interfaces. These include nuclear reaction analysis, force measurement techniques at Ångstrom surface separation, micromechanical testing techniques, electrochemistry, grazing angle X-ray diffraction and X-ray reflectivity using bright and collimated light from synchrotron sources, second harmonic generation, scanning probe microscopy and spectroscopy, grazing angle infrared spectroscopy, and unique applications of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy.
Home Page: http://www.weizmann.ac.il/materials
D. Cahen
Towards molecule - controlled electronic devices; Molecular control over opto-electronic materials and interfaces.
Electron transport and electronic information transmission between and across molecules and molecular layers.
Improving Photovoltaic (Solar Cell) Materials & Interfaces; new Solid State & Surface Chemical approaches (with G. Hodes).
Home Page:http://www.weizmann.ac.il/materials/
M. Elbaum
Single-molecule manipulations using optical tweezers.
Dynamics of DNA uptake into the cell nucleus.
Structure and function of the nuclear pore complex (with Z. Reich): application of atomic force microscopy and advanced optical spectroscopies.
Anomalous diffusion in polymer networks and living cells (with R. Granek). Organization of forces driving cell movements (with A. Bershadsky): optical force measurements and particle tracking studies; influence of cell biochemistry on biophysical forces. Novel surface-patterning lithographies.e-mail: michael.elbaum@weizmann.ac.il
R. Granek
Dynamics of active biomembranes and biopolymer networks. The effect of active transport on the motion of tagged particles in living cells (with M. Elbaum).
Undulation instability in lamellar phases under shear and the formation of onions.
Shear rupture of onions and emulsion droplets.
Spontaneous emulsification.e-mail: rony.granek@weizmann.ac.il
G. Hodes
Electrochemical and chemical deposition of nanocrystalline semiconductor quantum dot (QD) films.
Surface modification of semiconductor nanocrystals.
Charge transfer in QDs.
Thin film photovoltaic cells.
http://www.weizmann.ac.il/materials/HodesPage.html
J. Klein
Experimental studies of surface structure and interactions, and of the behavior of confined simple and polymeric fluids.
Surface-forces-measurement techniques at angstrom surface separations; polymers as molecular lubricants; properties of thin liquid films including aqueous electrolytes and polyelectrolytes.
Nuclear reaction analysis investigations of polymer interfaces. Interfacial structure and phase equilibrium between incompatible polymers; studies of transport and self-diffusion in bulk polymers.
Wetting and stability of thin films; use of polymer surfactants to modify surface and interfacial behaviour.
e-mail: jacob.klein@weizmann.ac.ilM. Lahav, L. Leiserowitz
Chirality in Two-Dimensions (2-D) at Interfaces: spontaneous resolution in two dimensions on liquid and solid surfaces; generation of homo-chiral peptides under prebiotic conditions. Amplification of chirality at interfaces by self-replicating processes; molecular imprinting processes at interfaces. Design of processes for large-scale resolution of enantiomers by crystallization (with I. Weissbuch).
Ordered hybrid organic/inorganic composites for opto-electronics.Chemical approach for the design of organized composites of inorganic Q-particles and organic molecular wires (with E. Lifshitz Technion).
Design of auxiliaries for crystal growth. Control of crystal polymorphism, etching, twinning, etc.; growth of crystals at interfaces and from monolayers; Structural studies of 2-D and 3-D solid and liquid surfaces and interfaces: Grazing incidence X-ray diffraction, Fresnel reflectivity, atomic force microscopy, electron microscopy, grazing angle I.R. spectroscopy (with I.Weissbuch).
Stereochemical studies on crystal nucleation of Cholesterol in 2-and 3-D at the water interface.
e-mail: meir.lahav@weizmann.ac.il
e-mail: leslie.leiserowitz@weizmann.ac.il
I. Lubomirsky
Properties of Ultra-Thin Self-Supported Crystalline Oxide Films.
Infrared focal plane array based on freestanding pyroelectric films.
Oxygen ion transport in thin freestanding films.
e-mail: igor.lubomirsky@weizmann.ac.il
S. Reich
Localized high Tc superconductivity was obtained on Na+ doped surface of WO3 crystals.
Cs+ and Rb+ surface doping is used to induce surface superconductivity in various crystallographic phases of WO3.
e-mail: shimon.reich@weizmann.ac.il
I. Rubinstein
Self-assembled supramolecular systems on metal substrates.
Monolayers, multilayers and dendrimers based on metal-organic coordination (with A. Shanzer).
Chemical and biological sensing using transmission surface plasmon spectroscopy of gold island films (with A. Vaskevich).
Novel nano-structures based on surface-modified metal nanoparticles (with A. Vaskevich).
Chemical and biological applications of nanoporous alumina membranes (with A. Vaskevich, M. Elbaum).
Electrodeposited semiconductor quantum dots (with G. Hodes).
Metal underpotential deposition (UPD) in non-aqueous solutions (with A. Vaskevich).
e-mail: israel.rubinstein@weizmann.ac.il
S. Safran
Statistical physics of soft matter:
Home Page: http://www.weizmann.ac.il/fluids/safran1.html
J. Sagiv
Studies on novel types of artificial organic-inorganic hybrid superlattice structures with intercalated metal or semiconductor nanoparticles, including collaborative work on characterization by synchrotron X-ray scattering, scanning probe microscopies and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (with R. Maoz).
Self-replicating multilayers. (with R. Maoz).
Planned surface self-assembly of nanoscopic organic-inorganic architectures using a scanning probe initiated process of non-destructive nanoelectrochemical patterning of stable self-assembled monolayers (with R. Maoz, S. Cohen).
e-mail: jacob.sagiv@weizmann.ac.il
R. Tenne
Inorganic fullerenes: new materials with cage structure.
Photovoltaic materials: transition metal dichalcogenides.
Interfaces of diamond films.
e-mail: reshef.tenne@weizmann.ac.il
Home Page: http://www.weizmann.ac.il/msg/
H.D. Wagner
Interface micromechanics in composite materials, including characterization by micro-Raman spectroscopy.
Mechanics of single- and multi-wall carbon nanotubes, nanofibers and their composites.
Mechanics of biological composites (with Steve Weiner and Lia Addadi).
e-mail: daniel.wagner@weizmann.ac.il
Home Page: http://www.weizmann.ac.il/wagner
This file was last modified on 08/15/2004 15:13:56
e-mail: academic.secretary@weizmann.ac.il
| Current Research Projects | Weizmann Home Page | Academic Secretary Home Page | Search |