About us
The R. Hurt laboratory at Brown focuses on the creation of 3D nanomaterial architectures and new nano-enabled technologies. We also study the potential adverse effects of emerging 2D nanomaterials on human health and the environment and work to identify safe design rules rooted in fundamental materials chemistry and physics that will enable their successful development and commercialization. PI Robert Hurt and a diverse team of staff and student researchers at Brown University represent 6 countries and diverse backgrounds in chemistry and engineering. We specialize in work on graphene-based materials, inorganic 2D materials, and metallic nanoparticles, and seek to understand the complex problems that arise at the interface between synthetic nanomaterials and natural and living systems.
Front row (left to right): Indrek Kulaouts, Willis T. Bilderback, Aidan Stone, Robert H. Hurt, Eric Kown.
Back row (left to right): Zachary Saleeba, Grace, Vidushi Shukla, Cintia Castilho, Muchun Liu.
Recent News
- Our newest article in PNAS "Mosquito bite prevention through graphene barrier layers" Link....
- Our newest article in Environmental Science: Nano "Biodissolution and cellular response to MoO3 nanoribbons and a new framework for early hazard screening for 2D materials" Link....
- Our newest article in collaboration with Dr. Agnes Kane group in Environmental Science: Nano "Impact of emerging, high-production-volume graphene-based materials on the bioavailability of benzo (a) pyrene to brine shrimp and fish liver cells" Link....
- Our newest article in Advanced Materials: "Graphene Inks as Versatile Templates for Printing Tiled Metal Oxide Crystalline Films" Link....
- Our newest article in ACS Nano: "Ultra-Stretchable Graphene-Based Molecular Barriers for Chemical Protection, Detection, and Actuation" Link....
- Our newest article in ACS Nano: "Breathable Vapor Toxicant Barriers Based on Multilayer Graphene Oxide" Link....
- Our newest article in Nanoscale: "Oxidation suppression during hydrothermal phase reversion allows synthesis of monolayer semiconducting MoS2 in stable aqueous suspension" Link....
- Our newest review in Advanced Materials: "From Flatland to Spaceland: Higher Dimensional Patterning with Two-Dimensional Materials" Link....
- Our newest article in Carbon: "Influence of external heating rate on the structure and porosity of thermally exfoliated graphite oxide" Link....
- Joint work with the Huajian Gao and Agnes Kane labs published in PNAS. Link....
- Ruben Spitz wins best poster award at the NIEHS Environmental Health Sciences FEST
- Our newest article in ACS Nano: "Hierarchical Metal Oxide Topographies Replicated from Highly Textured Graphene by Intercalation Templating" Link....
- Read our recent editorial review: "Carbon Science in 2016: Status, Challenges, and Perspectives"
- Po-Yen Chen joins the group as a David Hibbitt post-doctoral fellow
- Our NIEHS "Superfund" center on environmental health renewed for 5 years. Read more...
- On the road in 2016: Harvard University, Applied Physics Colloquium Seminar: “Out of Their Comfort Zone - Low-Dimensional Materials in Biological Environments”; Invited talk at the 8th International Nanotoxicology Conference: "Biological and environmental transformations of emerging 2D materials"; Departmental seminars at Rice University, Materials Science and Nanoengineering; University of Rhode Island, Dept. of Chemistry, University of Massachusetts, Amherst. NIEHS 50th Anniversary Environmental Health FEST. Upcoming: Invited talk at the Gordon Conference on Environmental Nanotechnology, Stowe, VT, June 2017