MEDIA CONTACT: Megan Fellman at (847) 491-3115 or fellman@northwestern.edu

November 4, 2003

Students Win $25,000 for Invention

EVANSTON, Ill. --- A few days after Northwestern University chemistry graduate student Rongchao Jin accidentally left a beaker of silver colloid out in the lab, he and colleagues Gabriella Métraux and Charles Cao realized that the yellow colloid had turned blue under the fluorescent lights. They then developed a method to synthesize the resulting silver nanoprisms, which exhibit unusual optical properties.

The discovery led to the trio winning a $25,000 prize in the annual Collegiate Inventors Competition, sponsored by the National Inventors Hall of Fame. Jin, Métraux, also a Northwestern graduate student, and Cao, a former postdoctoral researcher at Northwestern and now an assistant professor at the University of Florida, worked with advisor Chad Mirkin, George B. Rathmann Professor of Chemistry. Mirkin was recognized for his contributions with a $5,000 prize.

After their initial discovery of the colloid particles’ change in color, Mirkin, Jin, Métraux and Cao found that the silver spheres interacted with light and formed triangular silver nanoprisms. By varying the light sources, they have created nanoparticles of different shapes and sizes, which changes the particles’ optical, electrical, chemical and catalytic properties. The intensely colored nanoparticles could be used for biological labeling, inks, catalysts, specialized films and cosmetics, just to name a few applications.

“This team’s discovery is significant because the method uses light, not heat, to induce chemical change, and it is done in a way that gives us remarkable control over particle composition and size at the nanoscale,” said Mirkin.

Winners were announced Oct. 23 during a ceremony held at the New York Public Library. The next day they rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange. Two undergraduate winners, two graduate winners and one grand prizewinner were selected from 15 finalist teams, selected earlier from 155 original entries. Nine of the finalists were graduate teams.

Now in its 14th year, the Collegiate Inventors Competition is an international competition designed to encourage college students to be active in science, engineering, mathematics, technology and creative invention. This prestigious challenge recognizes and rewards the innovations, discoveries and research by college and university students and their advisors for projects leading to inventions that can be patented. The National Inventors Hall of Fame is located in Akron, Ohio.