Soft Materials Seminar - "Sculpting Light at the Nanoscale: Chemical Pathways to Photonic Devices and Biosensing"
- Sponsor
- Materials Science and Engineering Department
- Speaker
- Prof. Yuanwei Li
- Contact
- Bailey Peters
- bnpeters@illinois.edu
- Views
- 9
- Originating Calendar
- MatSE Soft Materials Seminar Calendar
Nanophotonics harnesses how light interacts with matter at the nanoscale, unlocking transformative opportunities in sensing, photonic devices, and beyond. In this talk, I will present two complementary strategies for engineering light–matter interactions. First, I will describe a bottom-up approach that combines colloidal nanoparticle synthesis with DNA-mediated assembly to build customized, porous photonic crystals. This method programs structure–function relationships in nanomaterials, enabling unusual optical phenomena such as perfect absorption and negative refraction for photonic device engineering. Second, I will explore the intersection of light and life through nanophotonic biosensing enabled by top-down nanofabrication. By integrating modular DNA probes with silicon nanophotonic resonators, we create optical sensors for continuous, multiplexed monitoring of neurological and stress-related biomolecules, paving the way for earlier diagnostics and personalized therapeutics. Together, I will show how our lab integrates chemical synthesis, crystal engineering, and precision nanofabrication to create nano-architected photonic materials for health and information technologies, and how rational design links target function to realizable structure.