Prof. George C. Schatz is the Charles E. and Emma H. Morrison Professor of Chemistry and of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Northwestern University. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and National Academy of Sciences (U.S.). For nearly five decades he has been actively involved in theoretical and computational research to tackle problems in nanotechnology, properties of materials, and macromolecular structures. Notably, his seminal contributions to the fundamental understanding of plasmonic properties of metal nanostructures have led to new advances in understanding the plasmonic effect and applications that included designing new energy conversion materials. Many of us know Prof. Schatz as the former Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Physical Chemistry (JPC) A/B/C/Letters. He led the growth of these JPC journals by publishing nearly 100,000 papers (2005–2019) during his tenure as EIC (https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jpcb.9b10611). I had the privilege to work with him closely first as a Senior Editor and later as a Deputy Editor of JPC Letters. Together we have written several editorials highlighting the key elements of writing effective scientific articles (https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/jz502010v), and we were also involved in many joint presentations (see Figure 1). He remains a leading advocate of Physical Chemistry and Nanoscience. During his recent visit to the University of Notre Dame, I had the opportunity to converse with Prof. George Schatz. Figure 1. With George Schatz during his visit to University of Notre Dame in February 2024. The Van de Graaff accelerator at Notre Dame Radiation Laboratory is in the background. (Photo courtesy: P. Kamat) PK: What were the early motivations that led you to get interested in plasmonic nanomaterials research? GS: I did my undergraduate studies at Clarkson University, which had several researchers who worked on colloidal materials and studying the properties of nanoparticles (then called “fine” particles). When I arrived at Northwestern in 1976, one of the first people I talked to was Richard Van Duyne, and he told me about the discovery of SERS (Raman spectroscopy of molecules adsorbed on silver nanoparticle surfaces), including the amazing enhancement factor of 10⁶ that wasn’t understood. I decided that this was something I needed to study, and this led to a collaboration that continued for 43 years until Van Duyne’s unfortunate death in 2019. There was a lot of confusion in the 1970s about what was being measured, as the basic tools needed to characterize nanoparticles had not yet been invented. Theory was also in bad shape, but gradually this improved, and by the 1990s I decided to spend most of my time studying plasmonic nanoparticles. PK: How can such materials advance energy research in the future? GS: The connection of plasmonics with energy research has evolved in several ways. SERS provides a useful diagnostic tool for characterizing catalytic reaction mechanisms, so this has often been used for identifying molecules involved as intermediates in thermal and photo catalysis. About 15 years ago there was interest in using plasmon-enhanced electric fields associated with silver and gold nanoparticles to enhance photovoltaic performance. This works on a small scale, but the absorption losses are too large for making practical devices with what has been done to date. However, a better application is to plasmonic photocatalysis, wherein plasmon excitation drives electron transfer processes that lead to chemical reactions. The detailed mechanisms for this are still being established, but already there have been demonstrations of this for reactions that are important in solar fuels. My group is especially excited right now about the use of real-time semiempirical electronic structure methods to directly simulate plasmon excitation that leads to electron-driven chemical reactions, as this seems to capture the essence of what is happening in the experiments, even though we can only do calculations for nanoparticles that are around 2 nm in size. PK: During your tenure as Editor-in-Chief (2005–2019), you accomplished a tremendous growth of publications in Journal of Physical Chemistry A/B/C and Letters. What challenges do you see for physical chemistry/chemical physics journals in the near future? GS: I was very fortunate to be the EIC of JPC at a time when many areas of physical chemistry (and related fields) were growing by leaps and bounds. This included many aspects of energy science, including advances in organic photovoltaics, in perovskite photovoltaics, in many kinds of emitters, in photocatalysis and thermal catalysis, in various directions leading to solar fuels, in battery materials and functions, in solar fuels applications in biology, and many other areas. Early on, JPC was largely unique in providing a publication that addressed all these areas and more, so the number of pages published increased several fold, and it made sense to start JPCC and JPC Letters so that these topics could be highlighted. This growth has now leveled off, and the number of journals serving these areas has increased tremendously such that mainstream physical chemistry/chemical physics journals are now smaller. However, in their role as broad interdisciplinary journals, the physical chemistry/chemical physics journals continue to provide opportunities for authors that are not otherwise served, so there are many new discoveries that appear first in these journals. The 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry is a good example of this, and there are many others. PK: Would you please tell us some of the exciting scientific approaches currently being pursued in your group? GS: My own research has continued to study plasmonics, with a focus in plasmonic photocatalysis using electronic structure methods to provide a “bottom-up” description. I think there are many opportunities in this field thanks to improved methods. In addition to plasmonics, I have recently gotten very interested in ion transport in angstrom-size channels. This is where the hydrated ions are comparable in size to the channels so there are strong interactions involved which lead to special opportunities for separating or otherwise manipulating the ions. Fortunately, the theory is now capable of dealing with these problems, and there are many kinds of experiments which provide new insight, so I think this will be an area of growth. I am also excited about several topics related to the quantum science field, where theory can play an important role in identifying new phenomena and new materials to drive this area forward. PK: What is your advice to young researchers who aspire to become successful energy researchers? GS: I think there are many opportunities for young scientists to pursue research that will push the boundaries of physical chemistry in new directions. A key thing to realize is that you have to embed yourself in a place where there are a lot of talented researchers who are willing to take risks in pushing these directions. This often requires people from different fields to collaborate, and to learn new skills to make progress in solving and understanding the underlying chemistry and physics. This isn’t easy, as it requires a substantial time commitment and a perspective on what projects to pursue that can be uncomfortable, but it can be immensely rewarding when new science and new discoveries result. George C. Schatz is Charles E. and Emma H. Morrison Professor of Chemistry at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. He received his undergraduate degree in chemistry at Clarkson University and a Ph.D. at the California Institute of Technology. He was a postdoc at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and has been at Northwestern since 1976. Schatz is a theoretician who studies the optical, structural, and thermal properties of nanomaterials, including plasmonic nanoparticles, plasmonic metamaterials, DNA and peptide nanostructures, and transition metal dichalcogenides. He has contributed to theories of dynamical processes, including gas phase and gas/surface reactions, energy transfer processes, quantum science, transport phenomena, and photochemistry. Schatz has published four books and over 1700 papers. He has received numerous awards, including the Debye, Langmuir, and Marsha Lester Awards of the American Chemical Society, the Bourke and Boys-Rahman Awards of the Royal Society of Chemistry, and the Materials Theory Award of the Materials Research Society. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, the Royal Society of Chemistry, the American Chemical Society, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. This article has not yet been cited by other publications. Figure 1. With George Schatz during his visit to University of Notre Dame in February 2024. The Van de Graaff accelerator at Notre Dame Radiation Laboratory is in the background. (Photo courtesy: P. Kamat) George C. Schatz is Charles E. and Emma H. Morrison Professor of Chemistry at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. He received his undergraduate degree in chemistry at Clarkson University and a Ph.D. at the California Institute of Technology. He was a postdoc at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and has been at Northwestern since 1976. Schatz is a theoretician who studies the optical, structural, and thermal properties of nanomaterials, including plasmonic nanoparticles, plasmonic metamaterials, DNA and peptide nanostructures, and transition metal dichalcogenides. He has contributed to theories of dynamical processes, including gas phase and gas/surface reactions, energy transfer processes, quantum science, transport phenomena, and photochemistry. Schatz has published four books and over 1700 papers. He has received numerous awards, including the Debye, Langmuir, and Marsha Lester Awards of the American Chemical Society, the Bourke and Boys-Rahman Awards of the Royal Society of Chemistry, and the Materials Theory Award of the Materials Research Society. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, the Royal Society of Chemistry, the American Chemical Society, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a member of the National Academy of Sciences.

中文翻译：

---

与乔治·沙茨的对话

George C. Schatz 教授是西北大学化学及化学与生物工程 Charles E. 和 Emma H. Morrison 教授。他是美国艺术与科学学院和美国国家科学院院士。近五年来，他一直积极参与理论和计算研究，以解决纳米技术、材料特性和大分子结构方面的问题。值得注意的是，他对金属纳米结构等离激元特性的基本理解做出了开创性的贡献，在理解等离激元效应和应用（包括设计新的能量转换材料）方面取得了新的进展。我们很多人都知道 Schatz 教授是《物理化学杂志》 (JPC) A/B/C/Letters的前主编。他在 EIC 任职期间（2005 年至 2019 年）发表了近 100,000 篇论文，引领了这些 JPC 期刊的发展 (https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jpcb.9b10611)。我有幸与他密切合作，先是担任 JPC Letters 的高级编辑，后来担任副编辑。我们一起撰写了几篇社论，强调了撰写有效科学文章的关键要素 (https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/jz502010v)，并且我们还参与了许多联合演示（见图 1）。他仍然是物理化学和纳米科学的主要倡导者。在乔治·沙茨教授最近访问圣母大学期间，我有机会与他进行了交谈。图 1. 2024 年 2 月，乔治·沙茨 (George Schatz) 访问圣母大学。背景是圣母院辐射实验室的范德格拉夫加速器。 （照片提供：P. Kamat）PK：促使您对等离子体纳米材料研究产生兴趣的早期动机是什么？ GS：我在克拉克森大学完成了本科学习，该大学有几位研究人员致力于胶体材料和纳米颗粒（当时称为“细”颗粒）的特性。 1976 年，当我到达西北大学时，我第一个交谈的人是 Richard Van Duyne，他向我讲述了 SERS（吸附在银纳米颗粒表面的分子拉曼光谱）的发现，包括令人惊叹的增强因子 10 ⁶这不被理解。我认为这是我需要研究的东西，这导致了持续 43 年的合作，直到 Van Duyne 在 2019 年不幸去世。在 20 世纪 70 年代，人们对​​测量的内容存在很多困惑，因为需要基本工具表征纳米粒子的方法尚未发明。理论也很糟糕，但逐渐有所改善，到了 20 世纪 90 年代，我决定把大部分时间花在研究等离子体纳米颗粒上。PK：这种材料如何推动未来的能源研究？GS：等离激元学与能源研究的联系已经以多种方式发展。 SERS 为表征催化反应机制提供了一种有用的诊断工具，因此通常用于识别作为热催化和光催化中间体的分子。大约 15 年前，人们对使用与银和金纳米颗粒相关的等离子体增强电场来增强光伏性能产生了兴趣。这在小规模上有效，但吸收损失太大，无法用迄今为止所做的技术来制造实用的设备。然而，更好的应用是等离子体光催化，其中等离子体激发驱动电子转移过程，从而导致化学反应。其详细机制仍在建立中，但已经在太阳能燃料中重要的反应中进行了演示。我的团队现在对使用实时半经验电子结构方法来直接模拟导致电子驱动化学反应的等离激元激发感到特别兴奋，因为这似乎抓住了实验中发生的事情的本质，尽管我们只能对尺寸约为 2 nm 的纳米粒子进行计算。PK：在您担任主编期间（2005-2019），您在《Journal of Physical Chemistry A/B/C》和《Letters》上的出版物数量实现了巨大增长。您认为物理化学/化学物理期刊在不久的将来会面临哪些挑战？ GS：我很幸运能够成为 JPC 的 EIC，当时物理化学的许多领域（以及相关领域）都在突飞猛进地发展。这包括能源科学的许多方面，包括有机光伏、钙钛矿光伏、多种发射器、光催化和热催化、太阳能燃料的各个方向、电池材料和功能、太阳能燃料在生物学中的应用等方面的进展，以及许多其他领域。早期，JPC 在提供涵盖所有这些领域及更多领域的出版物方面在很大程度上是独一无二的，因此出版的页数增加了几倍，并且启动 JPCC 和 JPC Letters 是有意义的，以便可以突出这些主题。这种增长现已趋于平稳，服务于这些领域的期刊数量大幅增加，以致主流物理化学/化学物理期刊现在规模较小。然而，作为广泛的跨学科期刊，物理化学/化学物理期刊继续为作者提供原本无法获得的机会，因此有许多新发现首先出现在这些期刊中。 2023年诺贝尔化学奖就是一个很好的例子，还有很多其他的例子。PK：您能告诉我们您的团队目前正在研究的一些令人兴奋的科学方法吗？GS：我自己的研究继续研究等离子体激元，重点是使用电子结构方法提供“自下而上”描述的等离子体光催化。我认为由于方法的改进，这个领域有很多机会。除了等离子体激元之外，我最近对埃尺寸通道中的离子传输非常感兴趣。这是水合离子的大小与通道相当的地方，因此存在强烈的相互作用，从而为分离或以其他方式操纵离子提供了特殊的机会。幸运的是，现在的理论已经能够处理这些问题，而且有很多类型的实验提供了新的见解，所以我认为这将是一个增长的领域。我还对与量子科学领域相关的几个主题感到兴奋，其中理论可以在识别新现象和新材料以推动该领域向前发展方面发挥重要作用。PK：您对渴望成为成功的能源研究人员的年轻研究人员有什么建议？GS：我认为年轻科学家有很多机会进行研究，将物理化学的界限推向新的方向。需要意识到的关键一点是，你必须置身于一个有很多才华横溢的研究人员愿意冒险推动这些方向的地方。这通常需要来自不同领域的人们进行合作，并学习新技能，以在解决和理解基础化学和物理方面取得进展。这并不容易，因为它需要大量的时间投入，并且需要对要从事的项目有一个看法，这可能会让人感到不舒服，但当新科学和新发现产生时，它可能会带来巨大的回报。 George C. Schatz 是伊利诺伊州埃文斯顿西北大学的 Charles E. 和 Emma H. Morrison 化学教授。他在克拉克森大学获得化学学士学位，并在芝加哥大学获得博士学位。在加州理工学院。他是麻省理工学院的博士后，自 1976 年以来一直在西北大学工作。Schatz 是一位理论家，研究纳米材料的光学、结构和热性质，包括等离子体纳米颗粒、等离子体超材料、DNA 和肽纳米结构以及过渡态纳米材料。金属二硫属化物。他对动力学过程理论做出了贡献，包括气相和气体/表面反应、能量转移过程、量子科学、传输现象和光化学。 Schatz 出版了四本书和 1700 多篇论文。他曾获得多项奖项，包括美国化学会的德拜奖、朗缪尔奖和玛莎·莱斯特奖、英国皇家化学会的布尔克奖和博伊斯-拉曼奖以及材料研究会的材料理论奖。他是美国物理学会、英国皇家化学会、美国化学会、美国科学促进会会士以及美国国家科学院院士。这篇文章尚未被其他出版物引用。图 1. 2024 年 2 月，乔治·沙茨 (George Schatz) 访问圣母大学。背景是圣母院辐射实验室的范德格拉夫加速器。 （照片提供：P. Kamat）George C. Schatz 是伊利诺伊州埃文斯顿西北大学的 Charles E. 和 Emma H. Morrison 化学教授。他在克拉克森大学获得化学学士学位，并在芝加哥大学获得博士学位。在加州理工学院。他是麻省理工学院的博士后，自 1976 年以来一直在西北大学工作。Schatz 是一位理论家，研究纳米材料的光学、结构和热性质，包括等离子体纳米颗粒、等离子体超材料、DNA 和肽纳米结构以及过渡态纳米材料。金属二硫属化物。他对动力学过程理论做出了贡献，包括气相和气体/表面反应，能量转移过程、量子科学、传输现象和光化学。 Schatz 出版了四本书和 1700 多篇论文。他曾获得多项奖项，包括美国化学会的德拜奖、朗缪尔奖和玛莎·莱斯特奖、英国皇家化学会的布尔克奖和博伊斯-拉曼奖以及材料研究会的材料理论奖。他是美国物理学会、英国皇家化学会、美国化学会、美国科学促进会会士以及美国国家科学院院士。