Research Interests
Our research focuses on understudying of fundamental principles of synthesis of nanostructures for technologically important applications. Precise design and synthesis of novel structures from atoms, molecules and complex building blocks such as nanoparticles and two-dimensional materials is critical for discovery of new material phenomena and unprecedented functionalities. High performing and cost-effective materials are pivotal for any application.
We aim to develop synthetic approaches that enable synthesis of new states of nanoscale 
materials for catalysis and energy conversion/storage, applications where nanodimentionality associated with the high surface area provides apparent benefits. We also explore the synthesis of functional nanomaterials using structural defects such as vacancies, dopants and lattice strain as tools to tune the functionality. We focus on understanding the role of the defects and lattice strain in the interfacial interactions with ions and molecules and provide the fundamental understanding of structural defects in nanostructured energy relevant materials, their interaction with the host lattice, and their dynamics upon external stimuli such as electric field and ion intercalation/deintercalation.
Self-assembly of nanoparticles stabilized with organic molecules is a promising way to create structures with the periodicity which is too small to be produced by existing lithographic “top down” approach. Self-assembly of different nanoparticles into complex structures, where the particles arrange in the way that atoms or molecules are put together in nature, is very attractive direction of investigation, since potentially it allows design of unique structures. We explore new interfaces for NP assembly, as well as assembly of nanostructures with mixed dimensionalities.
Selected Publications
1. Elena V. Shevchenko, Paul Podsiadlo, Xiaohua Wu, Byeongdu Lee, Tijana Rajh, Rachel Morin, Matthew Pelton. Visualizing Heterogeneity of Monodisperse CdSe Nanocrystals by Their Assembly into Three-Dimensional Supercrystals. ACS Nano 2020, 14, 11, 14989–14998.
2. Byeongdu Lee, Kenneth Littrell, Yuchen Sha, and Elena V. Shevchenko. Revealing the Effects of the Non-Solvent on the Ligand Shell of Nanoparticles and Their Crystallization. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2019, 141, 42, 16651-16662.
3. Elena A. Rozhkova, Byeongdu Lee, Judy A. Prasad, Yuzi Liu, and Elena V. Shevchenko. Hypoxia-induced biosynthesis of gold nanoparticles in the living brain. Nanoscale, 2019, 11, 19285-19290.
4. Yunlong She, Emmett D. Goodman, Jihyung Lee, Benjamin T. Diroll, Matteo Cargnello, Elena V. Shevchenko and Diana Berman, ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 2019, 11, 33, 30154-30162. 5. Pan Peng, Xiao-Min Lin, Yuzi Liu, Alexander S. Filatov, Dongguo Li, Vojislav R. Stamenkovic, Dali Yang, Vitali B. Prakapenka, Aiwen Lei, and Elena V. Shevchenko. Binary Transition-Metal Oxide Hollow Nanoparticles for Oxygen Evolution Reaction. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 2018, 10, 24715–24724.
6. Arnaud Demortiere, Donovan N. Leonard, Valeri Petkov, Karena Chapman, Soma Chattopadhyay, Chunxing She, David A. Cullen, Tomohiro Shibata, Matthew Pelton, and Elena V. Shevchenko. Strain-Driven Stacking Faults in CdSe/CdS Core/Shell Nanorods. J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 2018, 9, 1900−1906.
7. Martín D. Mizrahi, Galyna Krylova, Lisandro J. Giovanetti, José M. Ramallo-López, Yuzi Liu, Elena V. Shevchenko, and Félix G. Requejo. Unexpected compositional and structural modification of CoPt3 nanoparticles by extensive surface purification. Nanoscale, 2018, 10, 6382-6392.
8. Diana Berman, Supratik Guha, Byeongdu Lee, Jeffrey W. Elam, Seth B. Darling, Elena V. Shevchenko. Sequential Infiltration Synthesis for the Design of Low Refractive Index Surface Coatings with Controllable Thickness. ACS Nano, 2017, 11, 2521−2530.
9. Soon Gu Kwon, Soma Chattopadhyay, Bonil Koo, Paula Cecilia dos Santos Claro, Tomohiro Shibata, Félix G. Requejo, Lisandro J. Giovanetti, Yuzi Liu, Christopher Johnson, Vitali Prakapenka, Byeongdu Lee, Elena V. Shevchenko. Oxidation Induced Doping of Nanoparticles Revealed by In Situ X-Ray Adsorption Studies. Nano Lett. 2016, 16 (6), 3738–3747.
10. Soon Gu Kwon, Galyna Krylova, Patrick J. Phillips, Robert F. Klie, Soma Chattopadhyay, Tomohiro Shibata, Emilio E. Bunel, Yuzi Liu, Vitali B. Prakapenka, Byeongdu Lee, and Elena V. Shevchenko. Heterogeneous Nucleation and Shape Transformation of Multicomponent Metallic Nanostructures Studied by in situ Synchrotron X-Ray Scattering. Nature Materials, 2015, 14, 215-223.