Uri Banin (Wikipedia) received his B.Sc. degree summa cum laude (1989) and Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry summa cum laude (1994), all from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. After a postdoc work as a Fullbright and Rothschild fellow (UC Berkeley, 1994-1997) he joined the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (1997) where he is a Full Professor since 2004, holding the Afred and Erica Larisch Memorial Chair. He was the founding director of the Hebrew University Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology   (2001-2010), served on the scientific advisory board of Nanosys Inc. (2002-2007), was the founder of Qlight Nanotech that developed the use of nanocrystals in displays – and that was acquired by Merck in 2015, and since 2013 serves as an Associate Editor of the ACS journal Nano Letters . He received numerous awards including the Israel Chemical Society Prize for Outstanding Young Scientist (2001), the Michael Bruno memorial award (2007-2010), the 1^st recipient of the 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). He received the ERC advanced investigator grant twice (Project DCENSY 2010-2015; Project CoupledNC 2017-2022). He published over 210 papers that have been widely cited and is an inventor of 30 patents in nanotechnology.

Banin is studying the chemistry and physics of nanocrystals and is best known for inventing new types of semiconductor and hybrid semiconductor-metal nanocrystals, and for his studies on 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 investigating their properties as model quasi 1D systems alongside their incorporation in 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 reveal size, shape and composition dependent properties and their surface effects; Invention of semiconductor-metal hybrid nanoparticles, and study of their synergistic properties focusing on photocatalysis for alternative energy and for uses 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.

 

Photo Credit: Yoram Aschheim