David Waldeck
The Chiral-Induced Spin Selectivity Effect
Waldeck’s group is examining the nature of the Chiral-Induced Spin Selectivity (CISS) effect and exploring ways in which it can be exploited technologically. As electrons move through a chiral molecule (or structure) the electron current generates an effective magnetic field, 
, that acts on the electrons’ intrinsic magnetic moment. Thus, a preference exists for electrons with one magnetic moment direction to pass through the chiral molecule (or structure). A thorough understanding of the properties that affect the chiral induced spin selectivity effect is important for realizing its true potential.
The chiral induced spin selectivity effect can be exploited for facilitating chemical reactions. We demonstrated that chiral materials are accompanied by a spin polarization that can be used to discriminate between triplet and singlet reaction pathways. Additionally, these studies are guiding the development of new methods for enantiomeric separation and discrimination.
Chiral nanomaterials represent a new class of materials with promising properties for applications in the fields of optoelectronics and spintronics, amongst others. This part of our group is focused on the synthesis of new chiral nanomaterials and understanding mechanistically how the chirality manifests. These studies are pointing to structure – property relationships for the rational design of new chiral materials. We are studying spin-mediated processes of chiral materials and the tantalizing phenomena that manifest. Our work is leading to technological breakthroughs in the separation of enantiomers, the miniaturization of ferromagnets, and chiral oxide spin filters.
Name | Position | |
|---|---|---|
| Albro, Joe | Graduate Student | jaa177@pitt.edu |
| Bloom, Brian | Postdoctoral Fellow | bpb8@pitt.edu |
| Clever, Caleb | Graduate Student | cbc48@pitt.edu |
| Georgieva, Zheni | Graduate Student | zng2@pitt.edu |
| Lu, Yiyang | Graduate Student | yil212@pitt.edu |
| Rivas, Jose | Graduate Student | jerr225@pitt.edu |
| Tabassum, Nazifa | Graduate Student | nat73@pitt.edu |
| V, Aravind | Graduate Student | arv47@pitt.edu |
| Wei, Simon | Graduate Student | jiw105@pitt.edu |
Joe Albro
Graduate Student
jaa177@pitt.edu
3941 O'Hara Street, Pittsburgh PA, 15260, Pittsburgh PA, 15260
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PhysicsUniversity of Pittsburgh
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ChemistryUniversity of Pittsburgh
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ChemistryUniversity of Pittsburgh
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ChemistryUniversity of Pittsburgh
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ChemistryUniversity of Pittsburgh
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ChemistryUniversity of Pittsburgh
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ChemistryUniversity of Pittsburgh
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Chemical EngineeringUniversity of Pittsburgh
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ChemistryUniversity of Pittsburgh
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ChemistryUniversity of Pittsburgh
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ChemistryUniversity of Pittsburgh
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ChemistryUniversity of Pittsburgh
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Emil Wierzbinski
Graduate Student
G-10 Chevron Science Center, Pittsburgh PA, 15213
Affiliation:
ChemistryUniversity of Pittsburgh
Websites:
- "Photoisomerization dynamics of stilbenes." David H Waldeck. Chemical Reviews.
- "Noncovalent engineering of carbon nanotube surfaces by rigid, functional conjugated polymers." Jian Chen, Haiying Liu, Wayne A Weimer, Mathew D Halls, David H Waldeck, Gilbert C Walker. Journal of the American Chemical Society.
- "Breakdown of Kramers theory description of photochemical isomerization and the possible involvement of frequency dependent friction." Stephan P Velsko, David H Waldeck, Graham R Fleming. The Journal of Chemical Physics.
- "Spintronics and chirality: Spin selectivity in electron transport through chiral molecules." Ron Naaman and David H. Waldeck. Annu. Rev. Phys. Chem 66 (2015), 263-281.
- "Chiral-induced spin selectivity effect." Ron Naaman and David H. Waldeck, The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters 3 (2012), 2178-2187.
- "Chiral Induced Spin Selectivity and Its Implications for Biological Functions" Ron Naaman, Yossi Paltiel, and David H. Waldeck. Ann. Rev. Biphysics. 51 (2022)99-114.
- "Enantiospecificity of Cysteine Adsorption on a Ferromagnetic Surface: Is It Kinetically or Thermodynamically Controlled?" Yiyang Lu, Brian P. Bloom, Shangyu Qian, David H. Waldeck. J. Phys. Chem. Letters 12 (2021) 7854-7858.
- "Delocalization-assisted transport through nucleic acids in molecular junctions" Jesus Baldiviezo, Caleb Clever, Edward Beall, Alexander Pearse, Yookyung Bae, Peng Zhang, Catalina Achim, David N. Beratan, and David H. Waldeck. Biochemistry 60 (2021) 1368-1378.
- "The spin selectivity effect in chiral materials" David H. Waldeck, Ron Naaman, Yossi Paltiel APL Materials 9 (2021) 040902.
- "Increasing the Efficiency of Water Splitting through Spin Polarization using Cobalt Oxide Thin Film Catalysts." Supriya Ghosh, Brian P. Bloom, Yiyang Lu, Daniel Lamont, and David H. Waldeck. J. Phys. Chem. C 124 (2020) 22610-22618.
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Jennifer Laaser received her B.S. in Chemistry from Yale University and her Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she developed new methods in ultrafast spectroscopy for investigating the structure and dynamics of molecules at interfaces. She then joined the University of Minnesota as a postdoctoral associate to work on the detailed understanding of micelle-based polyelectrolyte complexes for gene delivery applications. She finally joined the faculty at the University of Pittsburgh in August 2016, where she is now hard at work setting up a new research group straddling the boundary between physical chemistry, polymer physics, and polymeric materials.
Sunil Saxena received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from Cornell University, where he developed two dimensional and double quantum electron spin resonance methodology. After his PhD, he was a Postdoctoral Scholar at Caltech where he used solid state NMR to measure dynamics in polymer blends. In 1999, he joined UC Berkeley as a postdoctoral Fellow. At Berkeley he gained expertise in optical pumping and SQUID detected ultra-low field MRI methodology. He started his independent career at University of Pittsburgh, where he rose through the ranks and is currently a Professor of Chemistry. At Pitt, his research interests focus on the development of Electron Spin Resonance spectroscopy and its applications to biophysics, including protein-DNA interactions and metals in biology. He is a recipient of the NSF CAREER Award and the Bellet Teaching Excellence Award.
Dr. Xin Gui is an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh. He received his Ph.D. degree from Louisiana State University with Prof. Weiwei Xie and did his postdoc work with Prof. Robert J. Cava at Princeton University. As a solid-state chemistry people, his work is mainly about design and synthesis of novel quantum materials in chemistry ways, such as superconductors, magnetic topological materials, quantum spin liquids, etc. Moreover, connecting these new quantum materials with real-life applications (quantum computers, spintronic devices, heterogeneous catalysis etc.) is another major direction of his research.