You are all invited to come to the QN Seminar (and the department coffee half-hour starting 15.30 at the QT coffee bar)

Speaker: Wim Noorduin, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge

Title: 

Abstract: Complex nano/microstructures are of fundamental interest, and the ability to program their form has practical ramifications in fields such as optics, catalysis and electronics. We developed microstructures in a dynamic reaction-diffusion system that allows us to rationally devise schemes for precisely sculpting a great variety of elementary shapes. Detailed understanding of the underlying reaction-diffusion mechanisms allows us not only to program elementary shapes, but also steer the precipitating reactants into complex flowers, corals, vases, and patterns, with precise control over placement of stems, leaves, etc. via sequential combinatorial assembly of the developing shapes. These findings may hold profound implications for understanding and ultimately expanding upon nature’s morphogenesis strategies, and outline a novel approach to use sequences of dynamic modulations of the environment to steer self-assembly processes as a route to advanced, highly complex microscale materials and devices.