Department of Chemistry

Dr. Christine Aikens
Christine Aikens

University Distinguished Professor

location CBC 428
email Email Professor Aikens
Research Themes
Functional Materials, Catalysis, and Nanochemistryblank spacerSpectroscopy, Imaging, and Dynamicsblank spacerTheory, Computation, and Advance Analytics
Lab Website Link

Biography
2020-Present
2015-2020
2012-2015
2007-2012
2005-2007
2000-2005
1996-2000		 University Distinguished Professor
Professor
Associate Professor
Assistant Professor
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Northwestern University
Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry, Iowa State University
B.S. in Chemistry, University of Oklahoma

Research Overview

Two of the major research aims in the Aikens group involve developing a theoretical understanding of the relationship between structure and properties of nanomaterials. These research areas include the structure and spectroscopic properties of gold and silver nanoparticles and nanoparticle arrays and the reactivity of nanostructured metal oxide particles.

Selected publications

  1. Reaction Pathways for Water Oxidation to Molecular Oxygen Mediated by Model Cobalt Oxide Dimer and Cubane Catalysts. A. Fernando, C. M. Aikens, J. Phys. Chem. C, 2015, 119, 11072-11085. (Invited Article for special issue on Current Trends in Clusters and Nanoparticles Conference) http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jp511805x

  2. Quantum Mechanical Origin of the Plasmon: From Molecular Systems to Nanoparticles. E. B. Guidez, C. M. Aikens, Nanoscale, 2014, 6, 11512-11527. (Invited Feature Article) http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/c4nr02225d

  3. Chiral Electronic Transitions in Fluorescent Silver Clusters Stabilized by DNA. S. M. Swasey, N. Karimova, C. M. Aikens, D. E. Schultz, A. J. Simon, E. G. Gwinn, ACS Nano, 2014, 8, 6883-6892. http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/nn5016067

  4. The Golden Pathway to Thiolate-Stabilized Nanoparticles: Following the Formation of Gold(I) Thiolates from Gold(III) Chloride. B. M. Barngrover, C. M. Aikens, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2012, 134, 12590-12595. http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ja303050s

  5. Chirality and Electronic Structure of the Thiolate-Protected Au38 Nanocluster. O. Lopez-Acevedo, H. Tsunoyama, T. Tsukuda, H. Häkkinen, C. M. Aikens, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2010, 132, 8210-8218. (Featured in JACS Select) http://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/ja102934q