We use inexpensive organic or inorganic templates to self-assemble metal precursors in space and transform them into chemically reactive metal nanoparticles with high surface areas and numerous dangling bonds. For example, we created a method to make Ruthenium (Ru) nanoparticle catalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). By carefully controlling the nanoparticles in space, we could achieve good HER performance with only a 2% loading of Ru metal.

We develop simple methods to create mesoporous nanoparticles in various noble and coinage metals (e.g., Au, Pt, Pd, Cu, etc.). These metals support plasmon resonances that absorb and manipulate light at the nanoscale. We synthesized mesoporous Au and then developed methods to image their interior structure using electron tomography. Then we input this structure into an electromagnetic solver to study its optical properties. The metal supports strong dipolar and quadrupolar plasmon resonances that we can use to drive photochemical reactions and sense molecules with surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS).