Prof. Michael Strano

In order to improve the human condition, the Strano Research Group seeks to understand nanometer-scale phenomena using mathematics and chemistry and invent new technologies for health, energy, food production, and materials science.

Colloidal Sized Machines – Extending nanoelectronics into traditionally inaccessible locations using microparticle devices represent an emerging field at the crossing point of materials science and electrical engineering. The ability to interface electronic platforms with the environment addresses several key challenges that we face today (such as remote autonomous sensing and integration of local objects into a global digital network), as well as opening up possibilities for the next generation smart micro-biomedical devices.

Thermal Energy Harvesting – The increasing demand of clean energy has inspired substantial effort in developing renewable energy harvesting technologies. Interestingly, transient temperature variations in the environment are a potential source of thermal energy that have been relatively unexplored.

Transport Through Nanopores – Nanosized pores are omnipresent in nature and central to many biological processes. Their importance to the functioning of cells is difficult to overestimate. Thus is their promise for applications: selective sieving of gas molecules, DNA sequencing, nano-nozzle assisted patterning, just to mention a few.

Plant Nanobionics – This strategy utilizes nanoparticles to engineer living plants with new functionality such as Light Emitting Plant (LEP). The current work introduces an additional nanoparticle designed to augment plant light emission in the form of strontium aluminate nanoparticles as nanophosphore elements.