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

  • Distinguished Teaching Award in Chemistry, University of Utah, 1978
  • David P. Gardner Faculty Fellow, 1981
  • Alfred P. Sloan Fellow, 1985-1989
  • Coblentz Memorial Prize in Molecular Spectroscopy, 1986
  • University of Utah Distinguished Research Award, 1988
  • ACS Division of Analytical Chemistry Award in Chemical Instrumentation, 1991
  • Pittsburgh Analytical Award, 1999
  • Editor-In-Chief, Applied Spectroscopy, 1998-present
  • SAS New York Section Gold Medal Award, 2002
  • American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellow, 2004
  • ACS Award in Analytical Chemistry, 2005
  • Distinguished Alumnus Award, Purdue University, 2005
  • Society for Applied Spectroscopy Fellow, 2006
  • ACS Utah Award in Chemistry, 2006
  • Robert W. Parry Teaching Award, University of Utah, 2008

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.

topSelected Publications

  • "Spatially-resolved Analysis of Small Particles by Confocal Raman Microscopy: Depth Profiling and Optical Trapping", Travis E. Bridges, Michael P. Houlne, and Joel M. Harris, Analytical Chemistry, 76 , 576 (2004).
  • "Modifying the Adsorption Behavior of Polyamidoamine Dendrimers at Silica Surfaces Investigated by Total-Internal-Reflection Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy", Karla S. McCain, Peter Schluesche, and Joel M. Harris, Analytical Chemistry, 76 , 930 (2004).
  • "Polyamidoamine Dendrimers as Nanoscale Diffusion Probes in Sol-Gel Films Investigated by Total-Internal-Reflection Fluorescence Spectroscopy", Karla S. McCain, Peter Schluesche, and Joel M. Harris, Analytical Chemistry, 76 , 939 (2004).
  • "Resolution of Intermediate Adsorbate Structures in the Potential-dependent Self Assembly of n-Hexanethiolate on Silver by In-Situ Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy", Rory H. Uibel and Joel M. Harris, Applied Spectroscopy, 58 , 934 (2004).
  • "Potential-Dependent Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering from Adsorbed Thiocyanate for Characterizing Silver Surfaces with Improved Reproducibility", Vanessa Oklejas and Joel M. Harris, Applied Spectroscopy, 58 , 945 (2004).
  • "Optically-Trapping of Unilamellar Phospholipid Vesicles: Investigation of the Effect of Optical Forces on the Lipid Membrane Shape by Confocal-Raman Microscopy", Daniel P. Cherney,Travis E. Bridges, and Joel M. Harris, Analytical Chemistry (Accelerated Article) , 76 , 4920 (2004).
  • "C18-Modified Metal-Colloid Substrates for Surface-Enhanced Raman Detection of Trace-level Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Aqueous Solution", Lydia G. Olson, Rory H. Uibel and Joel M. Harris, Applied Spectroscopy, 58 , 1394 (2004).
  • "Templating of Multiple Ligand Metal-ion Complexation Sites in 8- Hydroxyquinoline-Modified Silica Sol-gel Materials Investigated by In Situ Raman Spectroscopy", Rory H. Uibel and Joel M. Harris, Analytical Chemistry 77 , 991 (2005).
  • "Ultrasonic and Raman Scattering Spectroscopy of Zinc Thiocyanate Complexes in Water at 25°C. Kinetics of Complex Formation Determined by Multivariate Analysis", Rory H. Uibel, Emily C. Heider, Jennifer L. Gasser, Joel M. Harris, Edward M. Eyring, and Sergio Petrucci, J. Solution Chemistry, 34 , 499 (2005).
  • "Measuring Diffusion of Molecules into Individual Polymer Particles by Confocal Raman Microscopy", Travis E. Bridges, Rory H. Uibel, and Joel M. Harris, Analytical Chemistry ( Accelerated Article) , 78 , 2121 (2006).
  • "Electrostatic-Gated Transport in Chemically Modified Glass Nanopore Electrodes", Gangli Wang, Bo Zhang, Joshua R. Wayment, Joel M. Harris, Henry S. White, Journal of the American Chemical Society, 128 , 7679 (2006).
  • "Detection of Drug-Membrane Interactions in Individual Phospholipid Vesicles by Confocal Raman Microscopy", Christopher B. Fox, Robert A. Horton, and Joel M. Harris, Analytical Chemistry, 78 , 4918 (2006).

  • "Optically-Trapping Confocal Raman Microscopy of Individual Lipid Vesicles:
    Kinetics of Phospholipase A2-Catalyzed Hydrolysis of Phospholipids in the Membrane Bilayer", Daniel P. Cherney, Grant A. Myers, Robert A. Horton, and Joel M. Harris, Analytical Chemistry, 78, 6928 (2006).

  • "Controlling Binding Site Densities on Glass Surfaces", Joshua R. Wayment and Joel M. Harris, Analytical Chemistry, 78, 7841 (2006).

  • "Temperature-Controlled Confocal Raman Microscopy to Detect Phase Transitions in Phospholipid Vesicles", Christopher B. Fox, Grant A. Myers, and Joel M. Harris, Applied Spectroscopy, 61, 465 (2007).

  • "Detecting Phase Transitions in Phosphatidylcholine Vesicles by Raman Microscopy and Self-Modeling Curve Resolution", Christopher B. Fox, Rory H.
    Uibel, and Joel M. Harris, Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 111, 11428 (2007).

  • "Electric-Field Control of the Tautomerization and Metal-ion Binding Reactivity of 8-Hydroxyquinoline Immobilized to an Electrode Surface", Vanessa Oklejas, Rory H. Uibel, Robert Horton, and Joel M. Harris, Analytical Chemistry, 80, 1891 (2008).

  • "Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy Studies of Surfactant Adsorption to a Hydrophobic Interface", Lydia G. Olson and Joel M. Harris, Applied Spectroscopy, 61, 149 (2008).
  • "A Simple Synthesis of Catalytically Active, High Surface Area Ceria Aerogels", Jennifer L. Gasser-Ramirez, Brian C. Dunn, Daniel W. Ramirez, Eric P. Fillerup, Gregory C. Turpin, Yifan Shi, Richard D. Ernst, Ronald J. Pugmire, Edward M. Eyring, Katherine A. Pettigrew, Debra R. Rolison, and Joel M. Harris, Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids, in press (2008).
  • "Biotin-avidin Binding Kinetics Measured by Single Molecule Imaging", Joshua R. Wayment and Joel M. Harris, Analytical Chemistry, 80, in press (2008).