Emory Chan
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emorychannano.bsky.social
Emory Chan
@emorychannano.bsky.social
Staff Scientist, The Molecular Foundry, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Nanoparticles, materials, robotics
https://combinano.lbl.gov

@molecularfoundry.bsky.social
@berkeleylab.lbl.gov
Congrats to @molecularfoundry.lbl.gov users Yunxiang Zhang and Qian Liu for their latest work in @natcomms.nature.com: "Sub-10 nm upconversion nanocrystals for long-term single-particle tracking." doi.org/10.1038/s414.... w/ Chan group postdoc Xiaojing Xia on on the kinetic Monte Carlo #KMC #UCNPs
Sub-10 nm upconversion nanocrystals for long-term single-particle tracking - Nature Communications
This study presents ultrasmall, bright lanthanide-doped upconversion nanoparticles that overcome surface quenching, enabling high spatiotemporal resolution tracking of membrane proteins with exception...
doi.org
October 28, 2025 at 6:55 AM
Love building microscopes? Looking for a #postdoc? Come work w/ me, Ed Barnard, Jim Schuck, Bruce Cohen & others @berkeleylab.lbl.gov developing a #photonAvalanching microscope for bio & environmental sensing! Description below: #jobs #nonlinear #optics #photonics

drive.google.com/file/d/1Qcof...
September 24, 2025 at 12:19 AM
We have a postdoc opening w/ @samblau.bsky.social
on the autonomous synthesis of colloidal upconverting nanoparticles.

If you're looking for an exciting postdoc combining #robotics, #nanochemistry, #machinelearning, #UCNPs & simulations, see the link below!

combinano.lbl.gov/openings
Chan Group @ Molecular Foundry - openings
The Chan group welcomes inquiries for motivated, creative, and independent researchers at all levels (postdoctoral fellow, graduate students, undergraduates, and visitors), even in the absence of post...
combinano.lbl.gov
August 14, 2025 at 12:40 AM
Reposted by Emory Chan
⚡ Level up your research skills! Our 2.5-day Summer School will teach you closed-loop experiment design, data visualization, and robotic synthesis using cutting-edge platforms. Open to all students & postdocs! Register today: bit.ly/3Z5Uf8m #FutureOfScience #Automation
May 29, 2025 at 7:30 PM
2 #S25MRS talks down, 1 proposal submitted (internally). Time to take an ebike ride around Seattle before my flight!It's so nice here... great choice, MRS.
April 11, 2025 at 7:45 PM
Check out my 2 talks at #S25MRS this week in Seattle!
April 9, 2025 at 10:46 PM
@mphendricks.bsky.social, Michael Campos & the rest of Jon Owen's lab were some of the greatest WANDA users of all time. They took LBNL by storm with boxes of distilled solvents and custom precursors.

They showed that robots are pointless if the other parts of your workflow are not reproducible.
Working with WANDA (and Emory!) was one of the highlights of my PhD, and I’m looking forward to my group returning someday to take advantage of these amazing tools. Also excited for the Automating Chemical Laboratories Scialog conference this week to think about how the field moves into the future!
I can't believe it's been 15 years since this paper came out! We introduced a nanocrystal-synthesizing robot called WANDA to the world! Now robots & ML are all the rage, but WANDA was a pioneer & is still going strong. @deliamilliron.bsky.social @molecularfoundry.lbl.gov
pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10....
April 3, 2025 at 6:49 AM
I can't believe it's been 15 years since this paper came out! We introduced a nanocrystal-synthesizing robot called WANDA to the world! Now robots & ML are all the rage, but WANDA was a pioneer & is still going strong. @deliamilliron.bsky.social @molecularfoundry.lbl.gov
pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10....
Reproducible, High-Throughput Synthesis of Colloidal Nanocrystals for Optimization in Multidimensional Parameter Space
While colloidal nanocrystals hold tremendous potential for both enhancing fundamental understanding of materials scaling and enabling advanced technologies, progress in both realms can be inhibited by...
pubs.acs.org
April 2, 2025 at 11:34 PM
Reposted by Emory Chan
New article online: Intrinsic optical bistability of photon avalanching nanocrystals.

go.nature.com/3DSOmUC
March 26, 2025 at 10:44 AM
Thinking of submitting a user proposal to the @molecularfoundry.lbl.gov or any other scientific user facility?

Here are my Top 10 tips for writing a Foundry proposal (due March 27th!).

These #ProTips should be relevant for most user facilities! 🧵
March 10, 2025 at 8:38 PM
Check out our perspective article in @materialshorizons.rsc.org where we bust common myths about Photon Avalanching Nanoparticles! doi.org/10.1039/D4MH...

Learn why photon avalanches are not avalanches of photons and many other fun facts about ANPs. #chemsky 🧪

See 🧵 below for more myths and art.
Unraveling the myths and mysteries of photon avalanching nanoparticles
Photon avalanching (PA) nanomaterials exhibit some of the most nonlinear optical phenomena reported for any material, allowing them to push the frontiers of applications ranging from nanoscale imaging...
doi.org
March 5, 2025 at 8:38 PM
Reposted by Emory Chan
📢 The Molecular Foundry's Spring 2025 Proposal Call is now open through March 27! 🎉

Get free access to world-class nanoscale science facilities and expert support to advance your research. Don’t miss this opportunity—get the details now! buff.ly/InlHUYU
March 3, 2025 at 6:55 PM
Check out @berkeleylab.lbl.gov's highlight of our latest work in @naturephotonics.bsky.social! 🧪

#chemsky #physky
RESEARCH NEWS: Our scientists have developed photon-avalanching nanoparticles that exhibit a phenomenon called “intrinsic optical bistability,” which could enable optical memory for #OpticalComputing. @molecularfoundry.lbl.gov 🧪 #TechInnovation
New Photon-Avalanching Nanoparticles Could Enable Next-Generation Optical Computers
newscenter.lbl.gov
February 26, 2025 at 6:35 PM
Breakfast under blue skies @molecularfoundry.lbl.gov
February 26, 2025 at 6:25 PM
Reposted by Emory Chan
🚀Thrilled to share our light-twisting materials from semiconductor nanoclusters! Films of CdS magic-sized clusters helically assembled with record g-factors and large homochiral domains. Congrats to Tom, River, Reilly, Haoyang & Frank!
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ado7201
#Chiroptics
Transforming achiral semiconductors into chiral domains with exceptional circular dichroism
Highly concentrated solutions of asymmetric semiconductor magic-sized clusters (MSCs) of cadmium sulfide, cadmium selenide, and cadmium telluride were directed through a controlled drying meniscus fro...
www.science.org
January 31, 2025 at 7:35 PM
Reposted by Emory Chan
Just a bump for this starter pack - as always happy to add more folks, just post below anywhere you see me post it and I will add you

go.bsky.app/U5wGm7M
January 28, 2025 at 2:14 AM
Congrats to Ahn Pan for his final paper from his postdoc @molecularfoundry.bsky.social in Nanoscale Horizons @nanoscale-journals.bsky.social

Read how inorganic metal sulfide ligands w/ low phonon energies can enhance the PL of upconverting nanoparticles 🧵🧪#chemsky

DOI doi.org/10.1039/D4NH...
Enhanced upconversion and photoconductive nanocomposites of lanthanide-doped nanoparticles functionalized with low-vibrational-energy inorganic ligands
Upconverting nanoparticles (UCNPs) convert near-infrared (IR) light into higher-energy visible light, allowing them to be used in applications such as biological imaging, nano-thermometry, and photode...
doi.org
January 22, 2025 at 10:52 PM
#ActuallyProud to share our latest work in @naturephotonics.bsky.social demonstrating intrinsic optical stability in photon avalanching nanoparticles!

doi.org/10.1038/s415...

Read on to learn how these nanoparticles are like Gwyneth Paltrow 👱‍♀️, and how that’s useful for optical computing.
January 16, 2025 at 10:11 AM
We started 2025 in full force w/ a new @nature.com
pub on 1/1/25 using photon avalanching nanoparticles to sense pN-nN forces with infrared light! Work co-led w/ Bruce Cohen @molecularfoundry.bsky.social & Jim Schuck @columbiauniversity.bsky.social 🧵

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
January 9, 2025 at 11:51 PM
Check out NPMC, a kinetic Monte Carlo package for predicting optical spectra of lanthanide-doped materials like the complex core/shell nanoparticles we synthesize. NPMC is part of RNMC, a kMC implementation for reaction networks reported in @joss-openjournals.bsky.social: doi.org/10.21105/jos... 🧪🧵
RNMC: kinetic Monte Carlo implementations for complex reaction networks
Zichi et al., (2024). RNMC: kinetic Monte Carlo implementations for complex reaction networks. Journal of Open Source Software, 9(104), 7244, https://doi.org/10.21105/joss.07244
doi.org
January 8, 2025 at 12:20 PM
New to bluesky but have a lot of new papers to talk about! First up: a quantum dot (QD) solid state lighting pub co-led by Jonathan Owen's group at Columbia: 🧵https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.jpcc.4c07446
One Pot Synthesis of Cyan Emitting CdZnSSe Quantum Dots for Human Centric Lighting
A one pot synthesis of blue and green emissive CdZnSSe quantum dots (QDs) from thio- and selenoureas and Cd and Zn carboxylates is optimized using high throughput robotic optimization. A large set of ...
pubs.acs.org
January 7, 2025 at 9:11 AM
Reposted by Emory Chan
Our work on the optical bistability of avalanching nanoparticles is now out! These tiny crystals are among the most nonlinear nanomaterials reported and exhibit luminescence hysteresis, which is valuable in advancing optical computing and memory.

@molecularfoundry.bsky.social #MSCA

rdcu.be/d5pT7
Intrinsic optical bistability of photon avalanching nanocrystals
Nature Photonics - Intrinsic optical bistability in Nd3+-doped KPb2Cl5 avalanching nanoparticles enables high-contrast switching between luminescent and non-luminescent states and transistor-like...
rdcu.be
January 4, 2025 at 1:49 AM