I Never Knew What I Was Doing

Participating in conferences opens new opportunities for research and collaborations for scientists of all levels. Let me tell you how I first learned about the Materials Research Society, and its Boston conference. This will take a bit of context- so bear with me.

My research goal is to develop new materials for stereolithography 3D printing material that are stable under sunlight. The issue originates from the fact that the same UV that is in the 3D printing laser is also present in sunlight (why you put sunscreen). So, I need catalysts that are sensitive exclusively to light that is outside the solar spectrum on Earth. If successful, engineers can take full advantage of this 3D printing technology which is currently limited only to modelling due to the stability issues. I plan to achieve that goal by using semiconducting nanoparticles to photo initiate the solidification reaction of the resin (epoxy polymerization) that is used in 3D printing. That way, I can control the kind of light that these materials are sensitive to by changing the nanoparticles bandgap energy that is a function of the particle crystal size (Quantum Dots). I have demonstrated that semiconducting nanoparticles can initiate epoxy photopolymerization which has recently been published here. The next step is to make semiconducting nanoparticles with the right bandgap energy. Thus, I wanted to learn about how to synthesize nanoparticles. That is when I initiated a collaboration with the Particles Technology Laboratory (PTL) in ETH Zurich where I spent 9 months over two research internships. PTL is the world-leading research laboratory on the Flame Spray Pyrolysis (FSP) technology that can produce almost any metal oxide nanoparticles and composites at an industrial scale. Essentially, you mix precursors that contain the desired metal elements in flammable solvents and you literally put the whole thing on fire (It is extremely satisfying!), by spraying the mixture through an open flame. Everything gets combusted and oxidized: Hydrogen becomes H₂O, Carbon becomes CO₂, and metals such as Titanium become metal oxides (TiO₂). The metal oxide particulates collide in the flame and grow into nano or micro-particles. The particles are then separated from the aerosol phase by a filter on top of the flame where I would collect the particles I made. The time the particulates spend at the hot portion of the flame controls particle properties such as crystal size and surface area.

At the end of my first internship at ETH, Professor Pratsinis, who leads PTL, introduced me to the MRS winter conference in Boston. That conference presented a great opportunity for us to stay in touch and continue collaborating, which has laid the groundwork for my second internship at ETH. I presented a poster on photopolymerizing epoxy with semiconducting nanoparticles in my first MRS participation, an oral presentation on flame made TiO₂(B) in my second (published here), and now I am blogging for Materials Connect.

Finally, having pleasantly invested so much time learning about the FSP technology, it was important to bring that experience I gained to Canada. Therefore, Concordia University, where I am a Ph.D. candidate and a public scholar, has recently acquired the first FSP in Canada. It is very exciting to me and other nanotechnology researchers at Concordia to be able to make and study customizable nanoparticles that can be made by this versatile technology.

I hope you find my story as a living testimony that participating in conferences such as MRS is important for researchers at all levels to build and sustain fruitful collaborations. Finally, as I am rereading this post, I realize that it all sounds logical, intentional, and almost well planned. Nothing could be further from reality; I never knew what I was doing (sadly, still do not). I am slowly learning that it is sometimes important to just keep moving, and trust that dots will connect on their own.

@Kerologist

Keroles B. Riad- Public Scholar at Concordia University