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NOTE: You are currently visiting the old OU Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry website, which is no longer being updated. We have created a new site which you can visit at http://chem.ou.edu.
Professor Chuanbin Mao

Office: CHB 311
Phone: (405) 325-4385
Email: cbmao@ou.edu
Research Group Website

Chuanbin Mao
Division:
  • Materials Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry, Physical Chemistry & Biochemistry

Research Interests
  • Nanoscience and nanotechnology
  • Interfacing biotechnology and nanotechnology
  • Applying biotechnology and life science principles to develop nanotechnology
  • Applying nanotechnology to develop biotechnology and study fundamental problems in life sciences
  • Synthesis, assembly, characterization and applications of biomolecular, inorganic, and hybrid nanomaterials and interfaces
  • Biologically inspired and assisted growth and self-assembly of nanomaterials

Positions available

Postdoctoral positions in bio-/nano-science and technology are available in our group. The postdoctoral candidates should send their applications to Dr. Mao by e-mail at cbmao@ou.edu. Because our research is multi- and cross-disciplinary, we are interested in candidates who have backgrounds in chemistry, biochemistry, biology, chemical engineering, biomedical engineering, and/or materials science. Undergraduate and graduate students who are interested in working in our group are also encouraged to contact Dr. Mao. Please visit our research group website for more information about our research.


Research Description

1. Overview

Our group's research focuses on the interdisciplinary field of nanoscale science and technology with an emphasis on nanobiotechnology (also called bionanotechnology). It brings together chemistry, biochemistry, and materials science, and features a bio-nano two-way traffic (Figure 1). We use an interdisciplinary approach to synthesize, assemble, characterize, and apply two types of advanced materials. One is biomaterials, broadly defined, including biomolecular materials (e.g., enzymes, antibodies, nucleic acids), biomimetic materials, and biomedical materials (e.g., bones and teeth). The other is nanomaterials, including zero-dimensional (e.g., nanoparticles and nanocrystals), one-dimensional (e.g., nanowires and nanotubes), and two-dimensional (e.g., thin films) inorganic nanomaterials with unique properties (e.g., electronic, magnetic, optical, or piezoelectric). In our research, these two types of materials are often integrated and interfaced, leading to the concepts of bio-nano-materials (e.g., biomolecular-nanocrystal hybrid materials) and bio-inorganic (e.g., biomolecular-inorganic hybrid) interfaces. Our research addresses fundamental issues in the synthesis, assembly, properties, and applications of bio-nano-materials and bio-inorganic interfaces. In particular, we are interested in the use of self-assembling biomolecules as templates to produce functional bio-nano-materials and bio-inorganic interfaces. The target applications in our research are biotechnology, nanotechnology, information technology, and biomedical technology. A student working in our lab will have an opportunity to learn key techniques such as molecular cloning, photoluminescence spectroscopy, electron diffraction, elemental mapping, high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM), confocal microscopy, and atomic force microscopy (AFM).

The Nano-Bio two-way traffic
Figure 1: The Nano-Bio two-way traffic


2. Nano-Chemistry Inspired from Biology: Bio-inspired Synthesis and Assembly of Bio-Nano-Materials and Bio-Inorganic Interfaces

One of the central challenges in the field of nanobiotechnology is to understand how biomolecules (e.g., proteins and DNA) and inorganic nanomaterials (e.g., nanocrystals and nanowires) can be integrated and assembled into useful structures. Inspired from biology, one approach is to mimick the way nature makes materials, for example, to exploit the genetic engineering, chemical functionalities and self-assembly of biomolecules to control the synthesis and assembly of nanomaterials. It has been demonstrated that bio-nano-materials can be synthesized and assembled using biological molecules or macromolecules, such as tobacco mosaic virus (TMV), cowpea chlortic mottle virus (CCMV), M13 bacteriophage, ferritin, chaperonin protein, and DNA. The biological (macro)molecules can provide confined spaces or serve as functional templates for site-specific nanomaterials nucleation or binding (See Figures 2 and 3 for examples). Our group is exploring the use of new biomacromolecules as templates to assemble bio-nano-materials into novel functional nanostructures that can find applications in nanobiochemistry, nanomedicine and nanoelectronics. Using modern analytical tools, we also study the fundamental chemistry, biochemistry, and materials science issues in the bio-inspired synthesis and assembly. There are four main advantages of using biomolecules for nano-synthesis/assembly: (1) surface chemistries of biomolecular templates can be readily tailored using biochemical techniques; (2) biomolecules can self-assemble into different patterns; (3) the resultant bio-nano-materials may naturally have biological components for applications in biochemistry and medicine: (4) the process is environmentally benign and under mild conditions.

Cage-like biomolecules serve as nano-factories for constrained nanocrystal nucleation

Figure 2: Cage-like biomolecules serve as nano-factories for constrained nanocrystal nucleation

 

Figure 3: Site-specific nanocrystal nucleation templated by the filamentous biological structures: nanocrystals are assembled into a nanowire.  


3. Nano-Imaging and Characterization: Structures and Properties of Bio-Nano-Materials and Bio-Inorganic Interfaces

When biomolecules are integrated with inorganic nanomaterials, three questions arise: (1) What are the nanoscale structures of bio-nano-materials and the chemical nature of bio-inorganic interfaces: (2) What new properties do bio-nano-materials and bio-inorganic interfaces have; (3) How can bio-nano-materials and bio-inorganic interfaces be engineered or converted into useful structures? To address these questions, we use modern characterization tools to image the nanoscale structures of bio-nano-materials, to probe the chemical nature of bio-inorganic interfaces, to find the novel physical, chemical and biological properties of bio-nano-materials and bio-inorganic interfaces. Using chemical or biochemical techniques, we also incorporate functional biological components into the bio-nano-materials and bio-inorganic interfaces. For example, a model system of the interface between biomolecules and inorganic crystals can be constructed and studied to understand the nature of bio-inorganic interfaces by the state-of-the-art spectroscopic and microscopic methods.


4. Nano-Biochemistry and Medicine: Applications of Nanotechnology in Biochemistry and Medicine

Nanomaterials and bio-nano-materials have unique physical or chemical properties that are sensitive to changes in nanoscale structures and morphologies. They can physically, chemically or biologically interact with biomolecules or cells. Once the interaction can be translated into a readable signal, they can be used to study biochemistry problems that are difficult to be solved by traditional biochemical methods. For instance, a bio-nano-material can naturally have (or be functionalized with) a probe biomolecule that can specifically interact with a target biomolecule. When the target biomolecule interacts with the probe biomolecule, the biomolecular interaction can be translated into a physical or chemical change of the bio-nano-material, which in turn generates a readable signal for probing the dynamic process of such biomolecular interaction. Nanocrystals and biomolecules are of similar dimensions. This fact makes the biomolecular-nanocrystal hybrid particles powerful nano-tools in biochemistry study. Such nano-tools may be able to enter a cell to in situ investigate the intracellular biochemical change.

Nanomaterials and bio-nano-materials can also find applications in medicine such as drug delivery and disease diagnosis and treatment. We apply nanobiotechnology to develop biomedical technology such as tissue engineering as well as cancer detection and treatment. This type of research represents an emerging field called nanomedicine. We are developing nanobiotechnology in order to generate a three-dimensional, biomimetic, nanostructured scaffold on which human cells can grow. This may further lead to the regeneration of healthy human tissues. We also produce nanomaterials that can serve as a probe to detect a cancer cell and as a "bomb" to kill the cancer cell.


5. Nano-Fabrication: New Routes to the Synthesis and Assembly of Nanomaterials

To date, synthetic methods of a variety of nanocomponents such as nanocrystals, nanorods, nanowires, nanotubes, and nanobelts can be found in the literature. The more challenging work is to assemble preformed nanocomponents into functional superstructures with controlled architecture. Therefore, our group endeavors to develop new bottom-up routes to the assembly of nanocomponents into novel nanomaterials and nanodevices that feature ordering, complexity and hierarchy, to investigate the physical chemistry of such nanomaterials resulting from collective interactions of constituent nanoscale building blocks, and to provide novel inorganic building blocks for interfacing with biological systems as described above. We combine chemical synthesis and biologically assisted assembly to make novel functional nanoarchitectures. Toward this end, we take advantage of the biological recognitions and self-assembly of biomolecules to assemble chemically synthesized nanocomponents into desired patterns that can find applications in nanoelectronics and nanomedicine.

Selected Publications

  1. Mao, C. B. "Nanomaterials characterization: structures, compositions, and properties." Microscopy Research & Technique, 2006, 69, 519-521. (Mini-review)

  2. Tang, S.; Mao, C. B.; Liu, Y.; Kelly, D.; Banerjee, S. “Nanocrystal flash memory fabricated with protein-mediated assembly.” IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM), Washington DC, Dec. 5-7, 2005, 174-177.

  3. Mao, C. B.; Solis, D. J.; Reiss, B. D.; Kottmann, S. T., Sweeney, R. Y.; Hayhurst, A.; Georgiou, G.; Iverson, B.; Belcher, A. M. "Virus-based toolkit for the directed synthesis of magnetic and semiconducting nanowires." Science, 2004, 303, 213-217.

  4. Mao, C. B.; Flynn, C. E.; Hayhurst, A.; Sweeney, R.; Qi, J.; Iverson, B.; Georgiou, G.; Belcher, A. M. "Viral assembly of oriented quantum dot nanowires," PNAS, 2003, 100 (12), 6946-6951.

  5. Lee, S. W.; Mao, C. B.; Flynn, C. E.; Belcher, A. M. "Ordering of quantum dots using genetically engineered viruses."  Science, 2002, 296, 892-895.

  6. Reiss, B. D.; Mao, C. B.; Solis, D. J.; Ryan, K. S.; Thomson, T.; Belcher, A. M. "Biological routes to ferromagnetic metal alloy nanostructures." Nano Letters. 2004, 4, 1127-1132.

  7. Sweeney, R.; Mao, C. B.; Gao, X.; Burt, J. L.; Belcher, A.; Georgiou, G.; Iverson, B. "Bacterial biosynthesis of cadmium sulfide nanocrystals." Chemistry & Biology. 2004, 11, 1553-1559.

  8. Mao, C. B. "Introduction:nanomaterials characterization using microscopy." Microscopy Research & Technique, 2004, 64, 345-346. (Mini-review)

  9. Flynn, C. E.; Mao, C. B.; Hayhurst, A.; Williams, J.; Georgiou, G.; Iverson, B.; Belcher, A. M. "Synthesis and organization of nanoscale II-VI semiconductor materials using evolved peptide specificity and viral capsid assembly." Journal of Materials Chemistry, 2003, 13(10), 2414-2421.

  10. Mao, C. B.; Qi, J.; Belcher, A. M. "Building quantum dots into solids with well-defined shapes." Advanced Functional Materials, 2003, 13(8), 648-656.

  11. Qi, J.; Mao, C. B.; Belcher, A. M.; White, J. M. "Optical anisotropy in individual CdS quantum dot ensembles." Physical Review B, 2003, 68 (12), 125319.

  12. Pedraza, A. J.; Fowlkes, J. D.; Jesse, S.; Mao, C. B.;Lowndes, D. H. "Surface micro-structuring of silicon by excimer-laser irradiation in reactive atmosphere." Applied Surface Science, 2000, 168, 251-257.

  13. Mao, C. B. Li, H.; Cui, F.; Feng, Q.; Ma, C. "Oriented growth of phosphates on polycrystalline titanium in a process mimicking biomineralization." Journal of Crystal Growth, 1999, 206, 308-321.

  14. Mao, C. B.; Li, H.; Cui, F.; Feng Q.; Ma, C. "The functionalization of titanium with EDTA to induce biomimetic mineralization of hydroxyapatite." Journal of Materials Chemistry, 1999, 9, 2573-2582.

  15. Mao, C. B.; Li, H.; Cui, F.; Feng, Q.; Wang, H.; Ma, C. "Oriented growth of hydroxyapatite on (0001) textured titanium with functionalized self-assembled silane monolayer as template." Journal of Materials Chemistry, 1998, 8, 2795-2800.

  16. Mao, C. B.; Li, H.; Cui, F.; Feng, Q.; Wang H.; Ma, C. "Biomimetic growth of calcium phosphates with organized hydroxylated surface as template." Journal of Materials Science Letters, 1998, 17, 1479-1481.

  17. Mao, C. B.; Zhou, L.; Wu, X.; Sun, X.; "Rapid one powder process to synthesize phase assemblage of (Bi, Pb)2Sr2CaCu2Ox, Ca2CuO3 and CuO."  Physica C  1998, 303, 28-32.

  18. Mao, C. B., Zhou, L.; Wu, X.; Sun, X. "New understanding of silver-induced texture in powder-in-tube processed Ag/Bi(2223) tape." Physica C, 1997, 281, 159-175.

  19. Mao, C. B.; Zhou, L.; Sun, X. "Interaction between BiPbSrCaCuO powder and ambient atmosphere." Physica C, 1997, 281, 149-158.

  20. Mao, C. B.; Zhou, L.; Sun, X. "Optimization of solution-sol-gel process to synthesize homogeneous BiPbSrCaCuO powder." Physica C, 1997, 281, 27-34.

  21. Mao, C. B.; Zhou L.; Sun, X. "Coprecipitation-based micro-reactor process to synthesize soft-agglomerated BiPbSrCaCuO powder with low carbon content." Physica C, 1997, 281, 35-44.

  22. Mao, C. B.; Zhou, L.; Cui, F.; Li, H. "Optimization of a new modified wet-chemistry process to synthesize BPSCCO superconductor precursor powder with specific stoichiometry." Journal of Materials Chemistry, 1997, 7, 1451-1456.

 

University of Oklahoma Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry     620 Parrington Oval, Rm 208     Norman, OK 73019-3051