Tijana Rajh is a group leader in the Center for Nanoscale Materials at Argonne National Lab. She has extensive experience in the synthesis and study of colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals and their integration into hierarchical assembly. She conducted some of the earliest research on quantum dots, a scientific area that has grown enormously and is of great current interest and impact. Her early studies involved electron transfer reactions and photoelectrochemistry of colloidal semiconductors and quantum dots as well as solar energy conversion into chemical fuels. She has been a staff scientist at the Argonne Chemistry Division since 1996. Her research activities focus on surface modification of nanocrystalline TiO2 nanoparticles for light-induced chemistries such as metal sequestration, deposition of metallic nanoparticles, and their integration with biomolecules. She is currently studying the effect of surface modification on structural, dynamic and redox properties of nanoparticles. She developed methods for seamless electronic integration of chelating ligands and colloidal semiconductors creating hybrid properties between nanoparticles and organic molecules. She also proposed a first method to control and initiate chemical reactions between semiconductor nanoparticles and biomolecules such as DNA strands and antibodies.
