Dmitri V. Talapin

Dmitri V. Talapin is the Ernest DeWitt Burton Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago, holding joint appointments in the Department of Chemistry, Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, and the College. His research focuses on inorganic nanomaterials, including quantum dots, MXenes, and semiconductor devices, with emphasis on synthesis, self-organization, and optoelectronic applications. Talapin leads the Talapin Group, situated in the Gordon Center for Integrative Sciences, and has pioneered methods for colloidal nanocrystal synthesis in molten salts.

Education: Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Hamburg (2002), postdoctoral positions at IBM T.J. Watson Research Center and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Research interests encompass nanomaterials functionalization, ligand engineering, and scalable production of nanocrystals for applications in electronics, photonics, and energy storage. Recent advances include direct optical lithography of nanocrystals and MXene surface chemistry innovations.

Awards: Packard Fellowship, MRS Outstanding Young Investigator Award, Royal Society of Chemistry Fellowship, and recognition as one of Thompson Reuters' Top 100 Chemists of the Decade.

Advising: Supervises a dynamic team including graduate students (e.g., Tanya Chen, Marley Downes) and postdocs (e.g., Yuan Liu). Recent lab news highlights student achievements such as Di Wang's MXene PhD defense and Tanya Chen's Danute Nitecki Fellowship.

Labs/Teams: The Talapin Lab collaborates across disciplines to advance nanomaterials science, emphasizing safety and sustainability through initiatives like the Joint Research Safety Initiative. Key projects include DOLFIN (Direct Optical Lithography of Nanomaterials) and MXene functionalization.