Tags: Physical Seminar


Photochemical Synthesis and Spectroscopy of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Dimers

Laser desorption time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LD-ToF-MS) experiments on pressed-pellet samples of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) produce covalently-bonded dimers at masses (m/z) of 2M-2 and 2M-4 (where M is the parent mass). Through replication of these LD-ToF-MS conditions at higher throughput, PAH dimers have been produced and collected in milligram quantities. For collected samples of pyrene, perylene, and coronene,…


Experimental Catalyst Design Aided by Machine Learning

In the past, catalyst design has been highly characterized by trial and error based on previous experience and knowledge of catalysis.1 Due to the number of variables involved in catalyst performance, it is difficult to manually optimize highly active catalysts. In the past few years, there has been a movement toward the use of machine learning as a tool in experimental catalyst design. There have been numerous studies published using different…


Insights Into Molecular Structure Via Atomic Force Microscopy

Accurately characterizing the structure of molecules is a fundamental goal for chemists. Many powerful techniques exist to do so (e.g. NMR, IR Spectroscopy, X-ray Crystallography, etc.) and have proven themselves to be extremely effective. However, there are certain cases where these standard ensemble methods struggle to characterize certain systems. In 1986, Binning and coworkers developed Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) as a complementary method…


Coupled Cluster Externally Corrected by Adaptive Configuration Interaction

An externally corrected coupled cluster (CC) 1 method, where an adaptive configuration interaction (ACI) 2,3 wave function provides the external cluster amplitudes, named ACI-CC, was presented. By exploiting the connection between configuration interaction and coupled cluster through cluster analysis, the higher-order T3 and T4 terms obtained from ACI are used to augment the T1 and T2 amplitude equations from traditional coupled cluster. These…


Gaseous SO2 and H2O Droplets: A Deep Dive Into Surface-level Interactions

The interactions between gaseous SO2 and the surface of water droplets have been studied extensively over the years due to the environmental impacts of aerosols. Spectroscopic methods including vibrational sum-frequency spectroscopy (VSFS) have been used to better understand the mechanism in which gaseous SO2 reacts and dissolves on a water droplet surface1-3. A weakly bonded SO2:H2O complex on the surface of water droplets has been observed…


Application of Kinetic Doping of Silica Sol-Gel Thin Films to Internal Coating of Capillary Tubes and Doping of Branched Polyethylenimine

Doped or functionalized silica thin films are highly desirable technologies for many chemical applications. Current procedures for doping can be costly, environmentally unfriendly, require many synthetic steps, or have low doping efficiency. Kinetic doping is a technique for loading guest molecules into sol-gel thin films that involves introducing guest molecules into a still-evolving film, allowing them to be entrapped by the growing silica…


Two-dimensional electronic spectroscopy study of the Fenna-Matthews-Olson photosynthetic protein

Excitation of light-harvesting pigment-protein complexes is the first step in photosynthesis. The absorbed energy is transferred to reaction centers where it is used to fuel biological processes. Pump-probe and time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy have been traditionally used to study the energy flow within these systems. However, in the past decades two-dimensional electronic spectroscopy (2DES) emerged as a powerful technique for detailed…


Mapping (Photo)Chemical Pathways using State-Resolved Imaging

Striking transformations in the chemical complexity of the Earth's atmosphere have led to a multitude of pathways to aerosol formation. Likewise, the search for more efficient fuels and engine designs has resulted in similar increases in the composition of combustible fuels. These changes present opportunities to the scientific community to develop a molecular-scale understanding of the available chemical pathways in both environments. The…


Combustion Chemistry of Cyclic Ether Radicals

Oxidation of hydrocarbons is comprised of a series of chemical reactions that are in constant competition based on the conditions of the reaction environment. Further understanding of these pathways and the implications of this competition is important to improving the efficiency of combustion systems used for transportation. To calculate the contribution of each reaction, quantification of the intermediates formed must be conducted. However,…


Singlet Fission Copolymer Design: An Approach toward building Third Generation Solar Cells

Singlet Fission (SF) is a process, in which a singlet excited state is converted into two triplet excited states within a molecular system [1] . From an application point of view, SF in the molecular semiconductor is known to generate triplet excitons that are energetically matched to the bandgap of silicon or perovskite [2] . When the triplet excitons generated by SF process are transferred to semiconductors, they create additional electron–…
Subscribe to Physical Seminar

Support Us

We appreciate your financial support. Your gift is important to us and helps support critical opportunities for students and faculty alike, including lectures, travel support, and any number of educational events that augment the classroom experience. Click here to learn more about giving.

Every dollar given has a direct impact upon our students and faculty.

Got More Questions?

Undergraduate inquiries: chemreg@uga.edu 

Registration and credit transfers: chemreg@uga.edu

AP Credit, Section Changes, Overrides, Prerequisites: chemreg@uga.edu

Graduate inquiries: chemgrad@uga.edu

Contact Us!

Assistant to the Department Head: Donna Spotts, 706-542-1919 

Main office phone: 706-542-1919 

Main Email: chem-web@franklin.uga.edu

Head of Chemistry: Prof. Jason Locklin