UCLA Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry : UCLA Portal

Website:

Sarah Tolbert's Home Page.

Email Address:

tolbert@chem.ucla.edu

Laboratory Address:

Young Hall 4107

Work Address:

Young Hall 3045A

Lab Number:

1 (310) 794-6618

Work Phone Number:

1 (310) 206-4767

Professor
Chemistry and Biochemistry, Physical Chemistry

Member
California NanoSystems Institute

Awards and Honors:

American Chemical Society Materials Research Society

Research Interest:

Research in my group focuses around two intertwined goals. These are first, to create complex materials with nanoscale periodicity using self-organization, and second, to produce new physical properties because of that nanoscale architecture. The specific properties vary dramatically from project to project and include control of optical, magnetic, electrical, and even structural behavior. In all cases, however, the goal is to intrinsically tie the physical properties to the nanoscale structure, and in so doing, to understand the new dimension of control that size and spatial confinement can bring.

In my group, we use two main methods to produce nanoperiodic structures. Colloidal assembly is a simple method of producing periodic structures with virtually any length scale. Monodisperse colloids of almost any size can spontaneously order into close-packed arrays. Because of this size flexibility, colloidal assembly is the method of choice for producing larger-scale photonic materials with periodicity on the order of the wavelength of light. A structurally more versatile method for producing smaller-scale periodicity is inorganic/organic co-assembly. In this approach, amphiphilic organic surfactants or block co-polymers are co-assembled with inorganic oligomers to produce periodic inorganic/organic composites or nanoporous inorganics with periodicities similar to those found in lyotropic liquid crystalline phases. Various research projects in this area involve the synthesis of both oxide (titania, silica) and non-oxide (Ge, SnTePt, etc.) based materials.

Detailed Biography:

Sarah Tolbert is an associate professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UCLA. Research in her group focuses on self-organized nanoscale materials and includes both organic templated inorganic phases and colloidal materials. Current work in her group is aimed at understanding and controlling structure and periodicity in complex nanostructured composite materials, and in exploiting that periodicity for a range of structural, optical, and electronic materials applications. Projects in Prof. Tolbert's group range from examination of nanoscale phase transitions in surfactant templated inorganic solids to the designed assembly of electro-active composite materials. Professor Tolbert's honors include a National Science Foundation Early CAREER Development Award, the Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award, a Beckman Young Investigator Award, and an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship.

Publications:

X. Chen, B.L. Kirsch, R. Senter, S.H. Tolbert, and V. Gupta Tensile Testing of Thin Films Supported on Compliant Substrates, Mechanics Mater. in press 2009, ; .

M.B. Weinberger, R.W. Cumberland, J.B. Levine, N. Conil, A. Shahar, R.B. Kaner, S.H. Tolbert, and A. Kavner Strength of Osmium Diboride under High Pressure and Nonhydrostatic Stress, Submitted to J. Appl. Phys. 2009, ; .

T. Brezesinski, J. Wang, S.H. Tolbert, and B. Dunn Ordered Mesoporous α-MoO3 with Iso-Oriented Nanocrystalline Grains for Next Generation Thin Film Pseudocapacitors, Submitted to Nature Mater. 2009, ; .

S.D. Korlann, A.P.-Z. Clark, C. Shi, B.S. Mun, Y. Rubin, and S.H. Tolbert Efficient Charge Transfer in Self-Assembled Nanostructured Thin Films Made From Heterostructures of Conjugated Polyelectrolytes and Metal-Chalcogenide Semiconductors, To Be Submitted to Langmuir 2009, ; .

J.B. Levine, S.H. Tolbert, R.B. Kaner Advances in the Search for Superhard Ultra-Incompressible Metal Borides, Submitted to Adv. Func. Mater.; invited to review article 2009, ; .

S.D. Korlann, A.E. Riley, B.S. Mun, and S.H. Tolbert Chemical Tuning of the Electronic Properties of Nanostructured Semiconductor Films formed through Surfactant Templating of Zintl Cluster, J. Phys. Chem. C., 2009; doi 10.1021/jp806857v.

M.B. Weinberger, J.B. Levine, H.-Y. Chung, R.W. Cumberland, H.I. Rasool, J.-M. Yang, R.B. Kaner, and S.H. Tolbert Incompressibility and Hardness of Solid Solution Transition Metal Diborides: Ru1-xOsxB2, Chem. Mater., 2009; doi 10.1021/cm900211v.

H.-Y. Chung, J.-M. Yang, S.H. Tolbert and R.B. Kaner Anisotropic Mechanical Properties Of Ultra-Incompressible, Hard Osmium Diboride, J. Mater., 2008; 23: 1797-1801.

S. Virji, B.H. Weiller, J. Huang, H. Shepherd, T. Faltens, P.C. Haussmann, R. Blair, R.B. Kaner, and S.H. Tolbert Construction of a Polyaniline Nanofiber Gas Sensor, J. Chem. Ed., 2008; 85: 1102-1104.

H.Y.Chung, M.B. Weinberger, J.M. Yang, S.H. Tolbert, and R. B. Kaner Correlation Between Hardness And Elastic Moduli Of The Ultraincompressible Transition Metal Diborides RuB2, OsB2, and ReB2, Appl. Phys. Lett., 2008; 92: 261904.

X. Chen, E.K. Richman, B.L. Kirsch, R. Senter, S.H. Tolbert, and V. Gupta Measurement of anisotropic fracture energies in periodic templated silica/polymer composite coatings, J. Appl. Phys., 2008; 104: 083515.

M.B. Weinberger, S.H. Tolbert, and A. Kavner Osmium Metal Studied Under High Pressure and Nonhydrostatic Stress, Phys. Rev. Lett., 2008; 100: 045506.

M. Yu, B.C. Ng, L.H. Rome, S.H. Tolbert, H.G. Monbouquette Reversible pH Lability of Crosslinked Vault Nanocapsules, Nano Lett., 2008; 8: 3510-3515.

A.L. Ayzner, D.D. Wanger, C.J. Tassone, S.H. Tolbert and B.J. Schwartz Room to Improve Conjugated Polymer-Based Solar Cells: Understanding how Thermal Annealing Affects the Fullerene Component of a Bulk Heterojunction Photovoltaic Device, J. Phys. Chem. C., 2008; 112: 18711-18716.

R.D. Kennedy, A.L. Ayzner, D.D. Wanger, C.T Day, M. Halim, S.I. Khan, S.H. Tolbert, B.J. Schwartz, and Y. Rubin Self-Assembling Fullerenes for Improved Bulk-Heterojunction Photovoltaic Devices, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2008; 130: 17290-17292.

E.K. Richman, T. Brezesinski, and S.H. Tolbert Vertically Oriented Hexagonal Mesoporous Films Formed through Nanometer Scale Epitaxy, Nature Mater., 2008; 7: 712-717.

H.-Y. Chung, M.B. Weinberger, J.B. Levine, R. W. Cumberland, A. Kavner, J.-M. Yang, S.H. Tolbert and R.B. Kaner Response to Comment on "Synthesis of Ultra-Incompressible Superhard Rhenium Diboride at Ambient Pressure", Science, 2007; 318: doi:10.1126/science.1147704.

A.E. Riley and S.H. Tolbert Synthesis and Characterization of Tin Telluride Inorganic/Organic Composite materials with Nanoscale Periodicity through Solution Phase Self-Assembly: A New Class of Composite Materials Based on Zintl Cluster Self-Oligomerization, Res. Chem. Intermed., 2007; 33: 111-124.

H.-Y. Chung, M.B. Weinberger, J.B. Levine, R. W. Cumberland, A. Kavner, J.-M. Yang, S.H. Tolbert and R.B. Kaner Synthesis of Ultra-Incompressible Superhard Rhenium Diboride at Ambient Pressure, Science, 2007; 316: 436-439.

L. Huang, E.K. Richman, B.L. Kirsch, and S.H. Tolbert Controlling Thickness in Hexagonal Polymer Templated Mesoporous Silica Films, Microporous Mesoporous Mater., 2006; 96: 341-349.

D. Sun, A.E. Riley, A.J. Cadby, E.K. Richman, S.D. Korlann, and S.H. Tolbert, Hexagonal Nanoporous Germanium through Surfactant-Driven Self-Assembly of Zintl Clusters, Nature, 2006; 441: 1126-1130.

A.P.-Z. Clark, A.J. Cadby, C.K.-F. Shen, Y. Rubin, and S.H. Tolbert Synthesis and Self-Assembly of an Amphiphilic Poly(phenylene ethynylene) Ionomer, J. Phys. Chem. B., 2006; 110: 22088-22096.

A.E. Riley, S.D. Korlann, E.K. Richman, and S.H. Tolbert Synthesis of Semiconducting Thin Films with Nanometer Scale Periodicity by Solution Phase Co-Assembly of Zintl Clusters with Surfactants, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. , 2006; 45: 235-241 .

S.D. Korlann, A.E. Riley, B.L. Kirsch, B.S. Mun, S.H. Tolbert Chemical Tuning of the Electronic Properties in a Periodic Surfactant-Templated Nanostructured Semiconductor, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2005; 127: 12516-12527 .

A.J. Cadby and S.H. Tolbert Controlling Optical Properties and Interchain Interactions in Semiconducting Polymers by Encapsulation in Periodic Nanoporous Silicas with Different Pore Sizes, J. Phys. Chem. B., 2005; 109: 17879-17886 .

O. Trofymluk, A.A. Levchenko, S.H. Tolbert, A. Navrotsky Energetics of Mesoporous Silica: Investigation into Pore Size and Symmetry, Chem. Mater. , 2005; 17: 3772-3783 .

R.B. Kaner, J.J. Gilman, and S.H. Tolbert Materials Science: Designing Superhard Materials, Science, 2005; 308: 1268-1269 .

Cumberland, RW Weinberger, MB Gilman, JJ Clark, SM Tolbert, SH Kaner, RB Osmium diboride, an ultra-incompressible, hard material Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2005; 127(20): 7264-5.

B.L. Kirsch, X. Chen, E.K. Richman, V. Gupta, and S.H. Tolbert Probing the Effects of Nanoscale Architecture on the Mechanical Properties of Hexagonal Silica/Polymer Composite Thin Films, Adv. Func. Mater. , 2005; 15: 1319-1327.

A. Rugge, J.-S. Park, R.G. Gordon, and S.H. Tolbert. Tantalum(V) Nitride Inverse Opals as Photonic Structures for Visible Wavelengths, J. Phys. Chem. B., 2005; 109: 3764-3771.

A. Cadby and S.H. Tolbert Control Of Optical Polaron Production In Semiconducting Polymers Using Host-Guest Chemistry In Hexagonal Nanoporous Silica, Polym. Preprints, 2004; 45: 208-209 .

B.F. Kirsch, E.K. Richman, A.E. Riley, and S.H. Tolbert In-Situ X-Ray Diffraction Study of The Crystallization Kinetics Of Mesoporous Titania Films, J. Phys. Chem. B., 2004; 108: 12698-12706.

D. Sun, C.W. Kwon, G. Baure, E.K. Richman, J. MacLean, B. Dunn, and S.H. Tolbert. The Relationship between Nanoscale Structure and Electrochemical Properties of Vanadium Oxide Nanorolls, Adv. Func. Mater., 2004; 14: 1197-1204.

A.F. Gross, M.R. Diehl, K.C. Beverly, E. Richman, and S.H. Tolbert Controlling Magnetic Coupling between Cobalt Nanoparticles through Nanoscale Confinement in Hexagonal Mesoporous Silica, J. Phys. Chem. B, 2003; 10: 5475-5482.

A. Rugge, W.T. Ford, and S.H. Tolbert From a Colloidal Crystal to an Interconnected Colloidal Array: a Mechanism for a Spontaneous Rearrangement, Langmuir, 2003; 19: 7852-7861.

A.F. Gross, S.Yang, A. Navrotsky, and S.H. Tolbert In-Situ Calorimetric Study of the Hexagonal-to-Lamellar Phase Transformation in a Silica/Surfactant Composite, J. Phys. Chem. B, 2003; 107: 2709-2718.

A.E. Riley, G.W. Mitchell, P.A. Koutentis, M. Bendikov, P. Kaszynki, F. Wudl, and S.H. Tolbert Liquid Crystalline Phase Behavior in a Zwitterionic Tetraazapentacene, Adv. Func. Mater. , 2003; 13: 531-540.

B.L. Kirsch and S.H. Tolbert Stabilization of Isolated Hydrous Amorphous and Tetragonal Zirconia Nanoparticles Through the Formation of a Passivating Alumina Shell, Adv. Func. Mater., 2003; 13: 281-288.

A. Rugge, J.S. Becker, R.G. Gordon, and S.H. Tolbert Tungsten Nitride Inverse Opals by Atomic Layer Deposition, Nano Lett., 2003; 3: 1293-1297.

A.F. Gross, V.H. Le, B.L. Kirsch, and S.H. Tolbert Chemical Control of Phase Transformation Kinetics in Periodic Silica/Surfactant Composites, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2002; 124: 3713-3724.

J. Wu, L. Zhao, E.L. Chronister, and S.H. Tolbert Elasticity through Nanoscale Distortions in Periodic Surfactant Templated Porous Silica under High Pressure, J. Phys. Chem. B., 2002; 106: 5613-5621.

A. Rugge and S.H. Tolbert The Effect Of Electrostatic Interactions On Crystallization In Binary Colloidal Films, Langmuir, 2002; 18: 7057-7065.

A.M. Lapena, J.J. Wu, A.F. Gross, and S.H. Tolbert Using High Pressure Phase Stability to Determine the Internal Pressure of Silica/Surfactant Composites, J. Phys. Chem. B, 2002; 106: 11720-11724.

T.-Q. Nguyen, J. Wu, S. H. Tolbert, B. J. Schwartz Control of Energy Transport in Conjugated Polymers using an Ordered Mesoporous Silica Matrix, Adv. Mater., 2001; 13: 609-611, 542.

A.F. Gross, V.H. Le, B.L. Kirsch, A.E. Riley, and S.H. Tolbert Correlations Between Silica Chemistry and Structural Changes in Hydrothermally Treated Hexagonal Silica/Surfactant Composites Examined by In-Situ X-ray Diffraction, Chem. Mater., 2001; 13: 3571-3579.

S.H. Tolbert, J. Wu, A.F. Gross, T.-Q. Nguyen, and B.J. Schwartz Directional Energy Migration in an Oriented Nanometer-Scale Host/Guest Composite: Semiconducting Polymers Threaded into Mesoporous Silica, Microporous Mesoporous Mater., 2001; 44-45: 445-451.

J. Wu, M. Abu-Omar, S.H. Tolbert Fluorescent Probes of the Molecular Environment within Mesostructured Silica/Surfactant Composites under High Pressure, Nano Lett., 2001; 1: 27-31.

B.J. Schwartz, T.-Q. Nguyen, J. Wu, and S.H. Tolbert Interchain and Intrachain Exciton Transport in Conjugated Polymers: Ultrafast Studies of Energy Migration in Aligned MEH-PPV/Mesoporous Silica Composites, Synthetic Metals, 2001; 116: 35-40.

C.C. Landry, S.H. Tolbert, K.W. Gallis, A. Monnier, G.D. Stucky, P. Norby, and J.C. Hanson Phase Transitions in Mesostructured Silica/Surfactant Composites. Mechanisms for Change and Applications to Materials Synthesis, Chem. Mater., 2001; 13: 1600-1608.

A.F. Gross, E.J. Ruiz, V. Le, and S.H. Tolbert The Role of Silica Chemistry in Controlling Phase Transitions in Silica/Surfactant Composite Materials, Microporous Mesoporous Mater., 2001; 44-45: 785-791.

A.F. Gross, V.H. Le, B.L. Kirsch, S.H. Tolbert Understanding Phase Stability in Silica/Surfactant Composites through the Study of a Curvature Driven Rectangular Intermediate, Langmuir, 2001; 17: 3496-3504.

T.-Q. Nguyen, J. Wu, V. Doan, B.J. Schwartz, and S.H. Tolbert Control of Energy Transfer in Oriented Conjugated Polymer-Mesoporous Silica Composites, Science, 2000; 288: 652-656.

A.F. Gross, E.J. Ruiz, and S.H. Tolbert Effect of Framework Polymerization on the Phase Stability of Periodic Silica/Surfactant Nanostructured Composites, J. Phys. Chem. B., 2000; 104: 5448-5461.

J. Wu, X. Liu, and S.H. Tolbert High Pressure Stability in Ordered Mesoporous Silicas – Rigidity and Elasticity through Nanometer Scale Arches, J. Phys. Chem. B., 2000; 104: 11837-11841.

J. Wu, A.F. Gross, and S.H. Tolbert Host Guest Chemistry Using an Oriented Mesoporous Host: Alignment and Isolation of a Semiconducting Polymer in the Nano-Pores of an Ordered Silica Matrix, J. Phys. Chem. B., 1999; 103: 2374-2484.

A.B. Herhold, C.C. Chen, C.S. Johnson, S.H. Tolbert, and A.P. Alivisatos Structural Transformations and Metastability in Semiconductor Nanocrystals, Phase Transition, 1999; 68: 1-25.

S.H. Tolbert, T.E. Schäffer, J. Feng, P.K. Hansma, and G.D. Stucky A New Phase of Oriented Mesoporous Silicate Thin Films, Chem. Mater., 1997; 9: 1962-1967.

S.H. Tolbert, P. Sieger, G.D. Stucky, S.M.J. Aubin, C.-C. Wu, and D.N. Hendrickson Control of Inorganic Layer Thickness in Self-Assembled Iron Oxide/Surfactant Composites, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 1997; 119: 8652-8661.

S.H. Tolbert, A. Firouzi, G.D. Stucky, and B.F. Chmelka Magnetic Field Alignment of Ordered Silicate-Surfactant Composites and Mesoporous Silica, Science, 1997; 278: 264-268.

Firouzi, D.J. Schaefer, S.H. Tolbert, G.D. Stucky, and B.F. Chmelka Magnetic-Field-Induced Orientational Ordering of Alkaline Lyotropic Silicate-Surfactant Liquid Crystals, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 1997; 119: 9466-9477.

A.V. Kadavanich, A. Mews, S.H. Tolbert, X. Peng, M.C. Schlamp, J.C. Lee, and A.P. Alivisatos; R.W. Collins, P.M. Fauchet, I. Shimizu, and J.-C. Vial, eds. Structural Investigations Of Colloidal Semiconductor Nanocrystal Heterostructures: Faceting And Epitaxy, Advances in Microcrystalline and Nanocrystalline Semiconductors, Mater. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc, 1997; 452: 353-358.

P.F. Feng, X. Bu, S.H. Tolbert, and G.D. Stucky Synthesis and Characterizations of Chiral Tetrahedral Cobalt Phosphates with Zeolite ABW and Related Frameworks, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 1997; 119: 2497-2504.

A.B. Herhold, S.H. Tolbert, A.A. Guzelian, and A.P. Alivisatos, E. Pilizzetti, Ed. A Comparison of Pressure-Induced Structural Transformations in CdSe, InP, and Si Nanocrystals, Fine Particles Science and Technology From Micro to Nanoparticles, 1996; 331-342.

S.H. Tolbert, A.B. Herhold, L.E. Brus, and A.P. Alivisatos Pressure Induced Structural Transformations in Silicon Nanocrystals: Surface and Shape Effects, Phys. Rev. Lett., 1996; 76: 4384-4387.

A.M. Belcher, C. Zaremba, Q. Huo, C.C. Landry, S.H. Tolbert, A. Firouzi, M. Janicke, P.K. Hansma, D. E. Morse, B.F. Chmelka, S. Schacht, I.G. Voigt-Martin, F. Schüth, and G.D. Stucky The Organic/Inorganic Interface and Materials Synthesis in the Nano- to Macroscale Continuum, Chemistry on the Nanometer Scale, the Robert A. Welch Foundation 40th Conference on Chemical Research, 1996; 101-112.

S.H. Tolbert and A.P. Alivisatos High Pressure Phase Transitions in Semiconductor Nanocrystals, Ann. Rev. Phys. Chem., 1995; 46(595-625): .

S.H. Tolbert, A.P. Alivisatos The Wurtzite to Rock Salt Structural Transformation in CdSe Nanocrystals under High Pressure, J. Chem. Phys., 1995; 102: 4642-4656.

S.H. Tolbert, A.B. Herhold, C.S. Johnson, and A.P Alivisatos A Comparison of Quantum Confinement Effects on the Electronic Absorption Spectra of Direct and Indirect Gap Semiconductor Nanocrystals, Phys. Rev. Lett., 1994; 73: 3266-3269.

S.H. Tolbert and A.P Alivisatos Size Dependence of a First Order Solid-Solid Phase Transition: The Wurtzite to Rock Salt Transformation in CdSe Nanocrystals, Science, 1994; 265: 373-376.

S.H. Tolbert and A.P Alivisatos; G.C. Hadipanayis and R.W. Siegel, eds. Se EXAFS Study of the Elevated Wurtzite to Rock Salt Structural Phase Transition in CdSe Nanocrystals, Nanophase Materials: Synthesis Properties-Applications, 1993; 26: 471-482.

S.H. Tolbert and A.P Alivisatos Size Dependence of the Solid-Solid Phase Transition in CdSe Nanocrystals, Zeit. Phys. D- Atoms, Molecules, and Clusters, 1993; 26: 56-58.

S.H. Tolbert, A.P. Alivisatos, H.E. Lorenzana, M.B. Kruger, R. Jeanloz Raman Studies on C60 at High Pressures and Low Temperatures, Chem. Phys. Lett., 1992; 188: 163-167.

J.R Heath, J.M. Hawkins, A.P. Alivisatos, R.J. Saykally, T.A. Lewis, S.D. Loren, A. Meyer, Y. Shibato, S.H. Tolbert, and J.J. Shiang C60 Research at the University of California at Berkeley, Proc. of the 1990 Materials Research Conference, Boston, MA Nov. 25-29, 1990; 24-29.

Sarah Tolbert, Ph.D.