Professor Wei Lu

The Nanotechweb article Aligned nanoparticles get ready for applications said

Aligned coated nanoparticles have many applications from advanced materials to nanodevices but as-made nanoparticles are almost always randomly oriented. Now, a team of scientists at the University of Michigan has developed an approach to rigorously calculate the torque on core-shell nanoparticles and describe how they rotate under an applied electric field. The study could lead to new methods of controlling the orientation and assembly of functionalized nanoparticles in the future.
 
“Our study revealed rich behaviors and a significant degree of experimental control over nanoparticle orientation,” explained Lu. “For instance, the core-shell showed frequency-dependent behavior that can be exploited to direct nanoparticles in any designed orientation.”
 
“The work could help construct multifunctional materials by controlling the orientation and distribution of the nanoparticles,” said Lu.

Professor Wei Lu is an international leader on self-assembled nanostructures.
 
Wei Lu, Ph.D. is Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering Department University of Michigan.
 
Wei earned his Ph.D. from the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department, Princeton University, and joined the faculty of Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Michigan in 2001. He received his BS from Tsinghua University in 1994.
 
His research interests include nanoscale self-assembly, nanostructure evolution, and mechanical properties of nanostructures. He is associate editor for the Journal of Computational and Theoretical Nanoscience. His many awards include US Air Force summer faculty fellow, the Robert M. Caddell Memorial Research Achievement Award, the Career award by the US National Science Foundation, and the Robert J. McGrattan Award by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
 
Wei coauthored Self-assembly of functionally gradient nanoparticle structures, A local semi-implicit level-set method for interface motion, Creep flow, diffusion, and electromigration in small scale interconnects, Three-dimensional model of electrostatically induced pattern formation in thin polymer films, Engineering nanophase self-assembly with elastic field, Patterning multilayers of molecules via self-organization, Patterning nanoscale structures by surface chemistry, Monolayer pattern evolution via substrate strain-mediated spinodal decomposition, and Dynamics of nanoscale pattern formation of an epitaxial monolayer.