
Prashant K. Jain
G. L. Clark Professor of Physical Chemistry
Professor of Chemistry
University Scholar
Professor of the Materials Research Lab
Professor of the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology
Faculty Affiliate, Physics
Faculty Affiliate, Illinois Quantum Information Science and Technology
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Chemical & Life Sciences A224









217-333-3417, Fax: (217)244-3186
jain (at) illinois (dot) edu
RECENT AWARDS/HONORS
Elected Fellow of the American Physical Society
Guggenheim Fellow
Elected Fellow of the AAAS
Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry
Sloan Fellow
Kavli Fellow, National Academy of Sciences
MIT TR35 Inventor
Endowed G. L. Clark Professor
University Scholar
Presidential Early Career Award (PECASE)
Kavli Emerging Leader in Chemistry Lectureship
Leo Hendrik Baekeland Medal
Beilby Medal, Royal Society of Chemistry & IOM3
Center for Advanced Study Associate
National Academy of Engineering Frontiers
National Academy of Engineering E2I Innovator
Defense Science Study Group Member
NSF CAREER Award
Highly Cited Researcher, Clarivate Analytics
Most Cited Researchers in ChemE, Elsevier Scopus
Beckman Young Investigator
Alumni Research Scholar
Science News Ten Scientists to Watch (SN10)
Blavatnik National Awards Finalist Medal (2x)
Campus Distinguished Promotion Award (2x)
Chemistry Discovery Fund Award
Richard & Margaret Romano Professorial Scholar
AVS Prairie Chapter Early Career Award
I. C. Gunsalus Scholar
J Phys Chem C Lectureship Award
Dupont Young Professor Award
ACS Unilever Award
Center for Advanced Study Beckman Fellow
3M Nontenured Faculty Award
ACS/PRF Doctoral New Investigator
IACAT Faculty Fellow, NCSA
Golden Jubilee Visiting Fellowship, ICT
Google SfX Moonshot thinker/speaker
TEACHING
2015 SCS Faculty Teaching Award
UIUC List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent
(Fa'22, Fa'21, Sp'21, Sp' 20, Fa'19, Sp' 18, Fa'16, Fa'15, Sp'15, Sp'14, Fa'12)
Outstanding Ratings in Fa'19, Sp'20, Fa'22.
Chem 444: Physical Chemistry II
Spring 2015, 18, 20, 21 | Fall 2019, 20, 21, 22
Chem 445/7: Physical Principles Lab I/II
Spring 2013, 14, and 18 | Fall 2013, 14, 15 and 16
Chem 544A: Graduate Statistical Mechanics
Fall 2011 | Fall 2012
Chem 545: Graduate Physical Chemistry Seminar
Spring 2019, 22
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 the G. L. Clark Professor of Physical Chemistry in the Department of Chemistry and Professor of the Materials Research Lab, 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 emergent chemical reactivity, 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 ~30,000 times (Scholar profile) and highlighted in several science media features (links). He has published over 100 peer-reviewed journal articles and given over 100 invited/award/keynote/plenary lectures. Some scientific milestones are listed below along with citations.
Developed plasmonic redox catalysis and photosynthesis
JACS 2022, 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.
Co-discovered plasmon resonances in doped quantum dots
Nature Comm. 2017, Chem. Mater. 2022, 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
Engineered superionicity on the nanoscale
ACS Nano 2022, Nano Lett 2021, Nature Comm. 2019, Nature Comm 2019, Angew Chem 2019, Chem Mater 2019, Angew Chem 2018, JPC Lett 2018, Nature Comm. 2017.
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.
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
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.
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