BIOGRAPHY: Prashant Jain grew up in Bombay where he completed his undergraduate education in polymer engineering at the Institute of Chemical Technology. Because of his strong interest in physics and chemistry, he switched disciplines when he started graduate school at Georgia Tech. With M. A. El-Sayed at Georgia Tech, Prashant studied the nature of energy and carrier relaxation in photoexcited metal nanoparticles using ultrafast spectroscopy and theoretical electrodynamics. He also developed now well-known scaling rules for nanoscale electromagnetic interactions. Following his PhD, Prashant moved to Harvard as the very first postdoctoral researcher in the lab of Adam E. Cohen. At Harvard, Prashant learned single-molecule microscopy and helped launch a research program on magneto-optical and chiro-optical phenomena. An offer of a prestigious Miller Research Fellowship took Prashant to UC Berkeley, where he was hosted by A. P. Alivisatos. In the Alivisatos group, Prashant established the topotactic nature of cation exchange reactions in ionic nanocrystals and uncovered the plasmonic origin of optical resonances induced in semiconductor nanocrystals upon doping. Prashant now directs a research laboratory on nanoscale light-matter interactions at UIUC, where he is a Professor in the Department of Chemistry, the Materials Research Lab, and the Beckman Institute and an affiliate faculty member of Physics and Illinois Quantum Information Science and Engineering (IQUIST).

His lab is best known for using concentrated photons for artificial photosynthesis, inducing new catalytic behavior, and for probing the molecular-level functioning of catalysts. His lab has also discovered new solid-state phases and expanded the phenomenon of plasmon resonances beyond metal nanostructures. Although he no longer performs experiments, he complements the brilliant experimentalists in his lab with his theoretical modeling. Prashant teaches graduate & undergraduate physical chemistry for which he has received recognition, including the School of Chemical Sciences Faculty Teaching Award and a mention on UIUC's Excellent Teachers list for every course he has taught. Prashant is a current member of the IDA/DARPA Defense Science Study Group, and the lead developer of nanoDDSCAT & nanoDDSCAT+, an open-source computational toolkit for nano-optics and photonics, which has been used to launch over 800,000 simulations by users across the world. Prashant has served as Associate Head of Major Projects in the Department of Chemistry and Chair of the Chemical Physics PhD program. He currently serves on the faculty hiring and promotion committee and as the Diversity Advocate for the department. Prashant's research has been cited ~27,200 times (Scholar profile) and highlighted in several science media features (links). Some scientific milestones are listed below along with citations.

​Developed plasmonic photosynthesis & photoredox chemistry

Nature Comm 2021, JPC C 2021, Angew Chem 2020, Angew Chem 2020, Angew Chem 2020, MRS Bulletin 2020, Nature Comm 2019, Nature Chem 2018, ACS Energy Lett 2019, JPC C 2019, Nature Comm 2018, ACS Nano 2018, JACS 2018, Nano Lett 2018, Nano Lett 2018, ACS Energy Lett, 2018, Nano Lett 2016, ACS Catalysis 2017, Angew Chem 2019, Nano Today 2015.

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Co-discovered plasmon resonances in doped quantum dots

Nature Comm. 2017, JPC Lett. 2014, JPC Lett. (Perspective) 2014, Angew. Chem. 2013, JPC Lett. 2013, PRL 2013, Israel J. Chem. 2012, Nature Mater. 2011, TR35, Google SfX

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Engineered super-ionicity on the nanoscale

Nano Lett 2021, Nature Comm. 2019, Nature Comm 2019, Angew Chem 2019, Chem Mater 2019, Angew Chem 2018, JPC Lett 2018, Nature Comm. 2017.

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Reclassified solid-state reactions as co-operative phase transitions

Nature Comm 2013, Nano Lett 2014, Angew. Chem. 2014, Nano Lett 2015, Angew. Chem. 2016, JACS 2016, Chem. Mater 2016, PCCP 2016, JMC A 2017.

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Co-developed nanostructured sorbents for sulfur cleanup

Nature Nanotech. 2012, Angew Chem 2015, US Patent 2016, US Patent 2017, IChemE Energy Award Highly Commended Technology, RSC Advances 2018

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Employed cation exchange for new nanocrystalline phases

Nature Comm. 2017, Angew Chem 2019, Angew Chem 2018, Chem Mater 2017, Chem. Soc. Rev. 2013, Angew. Chem. 2011, JACS 2010, Chem. Mater 2016, Chem Mater 2019.

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Developed scaling rules and bonding model of plasmonic fields

JPC Lett 2018, Nano Lett. 2014, JPC C 2015, Nano Lett. 2010, JPC B 2006, ACS Nano 2010, Chem. Phys. Lett. 2010, Nano Lett. 2008, JPC Lett. 2008, Nano Lett. 2007

Formulated new spectroscopic selection rules in near-fields

JPCC 2014, PNAS 2011, Nano Lett. 2008

Developed guidelines for biomedical use of  gold nanoparticles

Acc. Chem. Res. 2008, Nano Today 2007, JPCB 2006