The Nanocrystal and Nanomechanics Laboratory led by Paul Mulvaney, aims to understand

• quantum size effects in semiconductors
• the behaviour of surface plasmons in nanostructures
• the optical and electronic properties of nanoscale materials
• the nucleation of crystals, and
• the fundamental mechanical scaling laws that determine nanoscale dynamics.

Applications of these materials include new generation solar cells, tuanble LEDs, and novel biolabels for MRI, Xray and fluorescence based bioimaging. 

The laboratory contributes to the Bio21 vision by providing experience in single (bio) molecule spectroscopy, time resolved fluorescence, thin film technology and the development of novel materials for bioimaging and biosensing.

Techniques include: Atomic Force microscopy, confocal microscopy, fluorescence lifetime, single molecule spectroscopy, ellipsometry, thin film fabrication and colloid and surface science expertise.

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Paul Mulvaney Bio

Professor Paul Mulvaney is an ARC Laureate Fellow and Federation Fellow in the School of Chemistry and Bio21 Institute at the University of Melbourne. He received his PhD degree at the University of Melbourne in 1989, working on surface electron transfer reactions with Professor Franz Grieser.

Paul worked as a research associate at the ANU Applied Maths Department (1988-89), with the Argonne National Laboratory in Chicago during 1986-87, and in 1988 with Professor Dani Meisel. He was appointed as a research scientist at the Hahn-Meitner-Institute for Nuclear Research in Berlin from 1989-1992 with Professor Arnim Henglein, where he studied pulse radiolysis and the nucleation of nanocrystals. In 1993 Paul returned to the University of Melbourne as an ARC QEII Research Fellow, accepting a Faculty position in 1997. In 1999, he spent time in Palo Alto with Quantum Dot Corporation. He was a Humboldt Research Fellow in 2000 at the Max-Planck Institute for Colloids and Surfaces in Golm, with Professor Markus Antonietti, and again in 2005 at the CAESAR Institute in Bonn with Professor Michael Giersig.

Paul is the recipient of the David Syme and Grimwade Prizes. He has published around 200 scientific papers and has five patents in the field of nanoparticles that are commercially licensed. He is a member of the Editorial Boards of Langmuir, Small and Advanced Functional Materials and the Royal Society Journal PCCP and the Journal of Materials Chemistry.

Professor Paul Mulvaney is Associate Director of the Institute's Nanobiotechnology Research Theme (see Research).

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