Uri Banin (Wikipedia) received his B.Sc. degree (summa cum laude ,1989) and Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry (summa cum laude ,1994), both from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Following a postdoctoral research as a Fullbright and Rothschild fellow (UC Berkeley, 1994-1997) he joined the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (1997) where he has been a Full Professor since 2004, holding the Afred and Erica Larisch Memorial Chair. He served as the founding director of the Hebrew University Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (2001-2010), was a member of the scientific advisory board of Nanosys Inc. (2002-2007), and founded Qlight Nanotech, a company that developed nanocrystals for display technologies. Qlight was acquired by Merck in 2015. Additionally, he served as an Associate Editor of the ACS journal Nano Letters (2013-2021). Prof. Banin has received numerous awards, including the Israel Chemical Society Prize for Outstanding Young Scientist (2001), the Michael Bruno memorial award (2007-2010), the inaugural Leah Tenne prize for Nanoscale Science (2013), the Landau prize in Nanotechnology (2015), the Kolthoff prize (2017) and the Israel Chemical Society Prize of Excellence (2018), and the prestigious Rothschild prize in Chemical sciences (2024). He has also been awarded two ERC Advanced Investigator Grant (Project DCENSY 2010-2015; Project CoupledNC 2017-2022). He has published over 245 papers widely cited and is the inventor of 30 patents in nanotechnology.
Prof. Banin’s research focuses on the chemistry and physics of nanocrystals. He is best known for inventing new types of semiconductor and hybrid semiconductor-metal nanocrystals, and for studying their unique chemical and physical properties, with relevance for applications in nanotechnology in the fields of displays, photocatalysis, and biology. Highlights of his work include the development of core/shell semiconductor nanocrystals with bright NIR emission; Synthesis of nanorods, and the study of their properties as model quasi 1D systems, as well as their integration into display applications; Introduction of combined optical-tunneling spectroscopy of nanocrystals, revealing dimensionality-dependent quantum confined properties alongside optical spectroscopy on ensembles and single nanocrystals to explore size, shape, composition-dependent properties, and surface effects; Invention of semiconductor-metal hybrid nanoparticles, and the study of their synergistic properties, focusing on photocatalysis for alternative energy and their use as quantum photoinitiators; Studies of heavily doped semiconductor nanocrystals and their properties; And most recently – the development of “Nanocrystals Chemistry” forming coupled colloidal quantum dot molecules and investigating their emerging properties and potential applications. This work manifests Prof. Banin’s holistic approach addressing challenges in the design of nanocrystal assemblies, demonstrating their potential for creating functional materials with novel properties.
Photo Credit: Yoram Aschheim