Title: Application of Surface Plasmon Resonance in Photocatalysis and Chiral Sensing

Time: 2022-01-10 10:00

Venue: Conference Center (The third lecture hall)

Organizer: Institute for Energy Research

Research Profile: Professor Kwok-yin Wong is Vice President (Education), Patrick S.C. Poon Endowed Professor in Applied Chemistry and Chair Professor of Chemical Technology at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU). Professor Wong obtained his BSc(Hons) and PhD degrees in chemistry from The University of Hong Kong in 1981 and 1986 respectively. He was a postdoctoral research fellow at the California Institute of Technology in the United States from 1986 to 1987. He joined the Department of Applied Biology and Chemical Technology of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University in 1990 and was promoted to full professor in 1995, and chair professor in 2005. He was a visiting professor in the Department of Chemistry of McGill University in 2004-2005. He has served as Head of Department of Applied Biology and Chemical Technology from 2005 to 2009, Dean of Faculty of Applied Science and Textiles from 2008 to 2015, Associate Vice President (Research Support) from 2016-2020 at PolyU. Professor Wong is also Director of the State Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery at PolyU.

Abstract: In the past two decades, the surface plasmon resonance of plasmonic metal nanoparticles has been investigated to improve the efficiency of photocatalytic processes. The photocatalytic production of fuels is particularly interesting for its ability to store the sun's energy in chemical bonds that can be released later without producing harmful byproducts. More recently, much interest has been devoted to the dipole-dipole coupling between localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) of plasmonic metal nanoparticles and bio-molecules located nearby, giving rise to a variety of phenomena such as plasmon-enhanced circular dichroism (CD). Thus, the combination of chiral bio-molecules with a weak CD response and achiral plasmonic nanomaterials can give rise to a hybrid nanostructure with enhanced and tailored chiroptical properties. These chiral plasmonic nanostructures can be created through the synthesis o particles with chiral morphology or by assembling achiral plasmonic nanoparticles into chiral configurations. Particularly interesting are the light-manipulating capabilities that chiral nanomaterials can offer in enantioselective-based sensing and recognition.