Tackling Big Challenges Using Tiny Crystals

Matteo Cargnello, Chemical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, USA
Jay Schwalbe, Chemical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, Usa
Emmett Goodman, Chemical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, Usa
Andrew Riscoe, Chemical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, Usa
Cody Wrasman, Chemical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, Usa
Liheng Wu, Chemical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, Usa
Joshua Willis, Chemical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, Usa
An-Chih Yang, Chemical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, Usa


The understanding that fossil fuels are not endless and that their extensive use is causing
irreversible climate changes prompted us to realize that we are in urgent need of sustainable
energy generation processes, energy vectors, and solutions to reduce pollution and greenhouse
gas emissions. Despite replacing fossil fuels while maintaining or improving the current
standards of living with a growing population is one of the biggest challenges that we have to
face, the solution might lie in tiny pieces of matter: nanocrystals. Nanocrystals have been known
for a long time but it is only recently that we have been able to better study and control their
properties. The advent of nanotechnology and its associated tools allowed indeed to
manipulate the composition, size, shape, functionalization and assembly of nanocrystals and to
create nanoarchitectures and macroscopic devices with novel properties and unrivaled
performance. In this talk, the use of uniform and tailored nanocrystals for energy and
environmental applications will be presented, with emphasis on how to precisely control the
nanostructures to understand and exploit interactions between well defined building blocks.
Applications include hydrogen generation through photocatalysis, reduction of methane
emissions, pollution control, and fundamental understanding of reaction mechanisms. It is
expected that advancements in the preparation and use of these tiny crystals can bring
immense benefit for making big challenges more approachable.