Professor Thomas Nann
Contact Details
Tel: +61 8 8302 5369
Fax: +61 8 8302 3683
Email: thomas.nann@unisa.edu.au
Position
Associate Director: Physical Chemistry of Colloids and
Nanostructures
Research Professor/ARC Future Fellow
ANFF-SA Node Director
Qualifications
MSc (Chemistry) PhD Freiburg, Germany
Background
Thomas Nann joined the Ian Wark Research Institute in June 2010. Previously
he held the Chair in Nanosciences at the University of East Anglia (UEA), UK
for almost 4 years. His work at UEA was focussed on the synthesis of novel
nanomaterials and their application in bioanalysis and energy harvesting.
Prior to this, he held the position of Senior Lecturer (German: Privatdozent)
at the Freiburg Materials Research Centre at the University of Freiburg,
Germany, where he led a research group of approximately 10 PhD-students and
Post-doctoral research assistants.
Thomas was awarded with his Habilitation (including venia legendi) in
2004 for his research in the field of nanosciences. Later in 2004, he spent
a scientific sojourn at the laboratory of Paul Mulvaney in Melbourne,
Australia. Thomas received his PhD in 1997 from the University of Freiburg
and his PhD supervisor was Jugen Heinze. During his PhD studies, he performed
research into electrochemical processes at heterogeneous phase boundaries
(electrodes). Thomas also studied chemistry at the Universities of Stuttgart
and Freiburg (Germany) between 1989 and 1994.
Thomas acts as PhD supervisor for students who undertake PhD and Masters
projects in the well-equipped nanoscience laboratories at The Wark. These
PhD projects provide fundamental knowledge on nanochemistry, surface and
colloidal chemistry, photoelectrochemistry and various analytical
techniques, including spectroscopy, electrochemistry, electron-microscopy
and bioanalytical methods.
Thomas' mother tongue is German. He speaks English and some French.
Research Interests
Thomas' current research interests comprise synthesis, characterisation and
application of nanomaterials. More specifically, he is interested in the
following materials and methods:
Nanoparticles:
- Semiconducting nanocrystals (Quantum Dots)
- Metallic nanoparticles
- Magnetic nanoparticles
- Various types of heterogeneous and doped nanoparticles. Examples include
heterogeneous core/shell, silica particles and up-converting (rare-earth
doped) particles.
Methods:
- Wet-chemical synthesis and modification (functionalisation) of
nanomaterials
- Chemical synthesis of functional ligands and reactants
- UV/vis, photoluminescence and other spectroscopies
- Electrochemical methods (including photoelectrochemistry and cyclic
voltammetry)
- Electron microscopy (especially transmission electron microscopy)
- Standard chemical and bioanalytical characterisation methods
Applications:
- Energy conversion; especially solar energy conversion
- Bioanalytical techniques
- Medical diagnostics and drug delivery
Much of Thomas' research is interdisciplinary and performed in close
collaboration with chemists, physicists, biologists and clinicians at other
institutions and companies.
Supervisor - Available Postgraduate/Honours Projects
Artificial photosynthesis for the reduction of water and carbon dioxide
(P)
Functional nanoparticles for controlled drug delivery and release (P)
Nano-solar cell by
controlled dimerisation of nanocrystals (P)
Synthesis and characterisation of cadmium-free quantum dots (P)
Theoretical
modelling of charge-transfer processes in nanomaterials (P)
Drug delivery systems based on functional nanoparticles (H)
Energy conversion I - New quantum dots for light harvesting (H)
Energy conversion II - Photoelectrochemical water-splitting (H)
Selected Publications
Nanoparticle Synthesis:
Hai-Qiao Wang, Richard D. Tilley, Thomas Nann, Size and shape evolution of
upconverting nanoparticles using microwave assisted synthesis, Cryst. Eng.
Comm. 2010, DOI: 10.1039/b927225a ("Hot Article").
Hai-Qiao Wang, Thomas Nann, Monodisperse Upconverting Nanocrystals by
Microwave-Assisted Synthesis, ACS Nano 2009, 3, 3804-3808.
Shu Xu, Jan Ziegler, Thomas Nann, Synthesis of highly lumicescent InP and
InP/ZnS nanocrystals via one pot route, J. Mater. Chem. 2008, 18, 2653-2656.
Erol Kucur, Jan Ziegler, Thomas Nann, Synthesis and Spectroscopic
Characterisation of Fluorescent Blue-Emitting Ultra-Stable CdSe-Clusters,
Small 2008, 4, 883-887.
Sara Cavaliere-Jaricot, Masih Darbandi, Thomas Nann, Au/silica nanoparticles
by 'reverse' synthesis of cores in hollow silica shells, Chem. Comm. 2007,
2031-2033.
Shu Xu, Sandeep Kumar, Thomas Nann, Rapid Synthesis of High Quality InP
Nanocrystals, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2006, 128, 1054-1055.
Nanomaterial Spectroscopy and Electrochemistry:
Stefan Schietinger, Thomas Aichele, Hai-Qiao Wang, Thomas Nann, Oliver
Benson, Plasmon-Enhanced Upconversion in Single NaYF4:Yb3+/Er3+ Codoped
Nanocrystals, Nano Lett. 2010, 10(1), 134-138.
Markus Grabolle, Peter Kapusta, Thomas Nann, Shu Xu, Jan Ziegler, Ute Resch-Genger,
Fluorescence lifetime multiplexing with nanocrystals and organic labels,
Anal. Chem. 2009, 81, 7807-7813.
Oliver Ehlert, Ralf Thomann, Masih Darbandi, Thomas Nann, A four-color
colloidal multiplexing nanoparticle system, ACS Nano 2008, 2(1), 120-124.
Erol Kucur, Wendelin Bucking, Thomas Nann, Electrochemical determination of
mesoscopic phenomena, defect states in CdSe nanocrystals and charge carrier
manipulability, Microchimica Acta 2008, 160, 299-308.
Erol Kucur, Jurgen Riegler, Gerald A. Urban, Thomas Nann, Determination of
quantum confinement in CdSe nanocrystals by cyclic voltammetry, J. Chem.
Phys. 2003, 119(4), 2333-2337.
Energy Conversion:
Thomas Nann, Saad K. Ibrahim, Pei-Meng Woi, Shu Xu, Jan Ziegler, Christopher
J. Pickett, Visible light driven water splitting: a nano-photocathode for
hydrogen production, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2010, 49(9), 1574-1577.
Jan Ziegler, Shu Xu, Erol Kucur, Frank Meister, Miroslav Batentschuk, Frank
Gindele, Thomas Nann, Silica-coated InP/ZnS nanocrystals as converter
material in white leds, Advanced Materials 2008, 20, 4068-4073.
Sandeep Kumar, Thomas Nann, First solar cells based on CdTe nanocrystal/MEH-PPV
composites, J. Mat. Res. 2004, 19(7), 1990-1994.
Erol Kucur, Jurgen Riegler, Gerald A. Urban, Thomas Nann, Charge transfer
efficiency in hybrid bulk heterojunction composites, J. Chem. Phys. 2004,
121(2), 1074-1079.
Bioanalytical Applications:
Ute Resch-Genger, Markus Grabolle, Sara Cavaliere-Jaricot, Roland Nitschke,
Thomas Nann, Quantum dots versus organic dyes as fluorescent labels, Nat.
Meth. 2008, 5, 763-775.
Jurgen Riegler, Franck Ditengou, Klaus Palme, Thomas Nann, Blue shift of
CdSe/ZnS nanocrystal-labels upon DNA-hybridization, J. Nanobiotechnology
2008, 6, 7.
Sara Cavaliere-Jaricot, Masih Darbandi, Erol Kucur, Thomas Nann, Silica
coated quantum dots: a new tool for electrochemical and optical glucose
detection, Microchimica Acta 2008, 160, 375-383.