Directory: Faculty

Joel M. Harris

Joel M. Harris

ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY

Distinguished Professor

B.S., 1972, Duke University
Ph.D., 1976, Purdue University

Phone: (801) 581-3585

Office: 1304 HEB-N

Email: harrisj@chem.utah.edu

Research Group

Interfacial and Bioanalytical Chemistry(IBAC)

Publications

Activities & Awards

Research Interests

Our research involves the application of lasers in chemical analysis, in the spectroscopy of colloids, and in studies of liquid/solid interfaces. Many new chemical materials and processes depend on the dispersion of small particles in liquids. Probing the chemistry of colloids represents a significant challenge for chemical analysis. Due to the high specific surface area of these materials, their physical and chemical properties are dominated by structure and dynamics at their surfaces; thus, meaningful analytical measurements must be selective for the particle surface/solution interface. Transport of molecules to and from the material surface is influenced by particle aggregation and organization on nm to µm distance scales, requiring measurements that are informative of nanoscale structure. The relation-ship between colloidal materials and analytical chemistry is not confined to measurement challenges since these materials also provide unique support structures for new methods of chemical detection and analysis.

Our program addresses both the measurement challenges and new opportunities for chemical analysis using colloidal materials: 1) Time-resolved luminescence spectroscopy is used to probe molecular transport and surface reactions at the single-molecule level. 2) Vibrational spectroscopy methods, both Raman scattering and infrared absorption, are being adapted to observing interfacial reactions in colloidal dispersions and in porous solids. 3) Single-molecule detection methods are used to report distributions of particle sizes, aggregation, and chemical composition. Optical-trapping provides long residence times to observe Raman scattering from individual colloidal particles to monitor chemistry in these nanoscale structures.

A second major research effort of our group is to develop spectroscopic methods for exploring molecular structure and dynamics at interfaces between dielectric solids and liquids. These new spectroscopic and kinetic tools lead to understanding the interfacial chemistry that impacts analytical methods (chromatography, solid-phase extraction, metal-ion complexation, and optical sensors) and environmental transport and clean up (adsorption and transport kinetics). We have been developing in situ vibrational spectroscopies, both Raman and infrared, to probe the chemical structure of adsorbed and bound species at silica/solution interfaces.

We are using these tools to investigate metal-ion complexation at silica-immobilized ligands, the mechanisms and rates of binding siloxane ligands to silica surfaces, and the specific molecular interaction responsible for adsorption, solid-phase extraction, and molecular recognition at chemically-modified silica surfaces. Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy at the surface is being adapted to fast relaxation kinetic measurements through the use of electric-field perturbations.

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