Research Summary

The Jones Lab is focused on developing a paradigm for nanochemistry that mimics traditional chemical approaches to synthesis by emphasizing the need for fundamental mechanistic understanding that facilitates the rational design of future nanomaterials. This objective is pursued through diverse project areas, focusing predominately on inorganic nanomaterials and their surface chemistry, that range from the development of new liquid-phase TEM characterization methods to understanding how crystal growth occurs at the ~1 nm length scale. 

Keywords

Nanoscience, Materials, Synthesis, Assembly, Catalysis

Biography

Matt Jones joined the Chemistry faculty at Rice in 2017 and is the Norman and Gene Hackerman Junior Chair. He received B.S. degrees in materials science and biomedical engineering from Carnegie Mellon University and completed his Ph.D. at Northwestern University as an NSF Fellow. Under the guidance of Chad Mirkin, his graduate work focused on the cooperative properties of DNA ligands functionalizing anisotropic nanoparticles and the ability for these systems to assemble into novel superlattices via base-pair hybridization. For his postdoctoral work, Matt was awarded an Arnold and Mabel Beckman Fellowship to study under Paul Alivisatos at UC Berkeley. There, he investigated single-particle non-equilibrium shape transformations of metal nanocrystals using liquid-phase transmission electron microscopy. His research interests at Rice rest at the intersection of systems science, nanoparticle self-assembly, and plasmonics/metamaterials.