Professor of Chemical Engineering

Research Areas

Nano/BioEngineering

Research Interests

BIOANALYTICAL PLATFORMS
At BSE lab, we develop biofunctionalized nanomaterials capable of detecting, from complex biological fluids, chemicals and biological molecules of interest with high levels of sensitivity and selectivity. We rely on localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) for detection conducted both in solution as well as on solid substrates. Our plasmon-active materials range from single nanoparticles and nanoparticle dimers to long-range nanoparticle assemblies and hierarchical organic-inorganic nanocomposites. They can translate molecular binding events to an optical signal that can even be visible via naked eye. Most notably, we have shown that the controlled formation of nanoparticle dimers in solution for DNA sensing via LSPR-based colorimetry can tremendously improve the detection sensitivity by four orders of magnitude.

IMMUNE-MODULATING SURFACE COATINGS TO ENHANCE LONG TERM PERFORMANCE OF NEURAL PROSTHESES
We engineer surfaces that present immune-modulating biomolecules at molecular levels and exploit their functional effects on cellular behavior. This research is motivated by the realization that protein layers non-specifically adsorbed to the surface of implanted biomaterials differ substantially in composition and conformation from the proteins that comprise the extracellular matrix and the surfaces of cells. Thus, these nonspecifically adsorbed layers both induce inflammation and lack the ligands that reduce inflammation.

Selected Publications

1. SM Shaban, SB Jo, E Hafez, JH Cho*, DH Kim*.
A Comprehensive Overview on Alkaline Phosphatase Targeting and Reporting Assays, Coordination Chemistry Reviews 465, 214567, 2022.

2. BS Moon, TK Lee, WC Jeon, SK Kwak, YJ Kim*, DH Kim*.
Continuous-wave upconversion lasing with sub-10 W cm-2 threshold enabled by atomic disorder in host matrix. Nature Communications, 12, 4437, 2021.

3. Z Wang, JH Shin, JH Park, HH Lee, DH Kim*, H Liu*.
Engineering Materials for Electrochemical Sweat Sensing, Advanced Functional Materials, 30, 2008130, 2021.

4. Moon BS, Kim HE, and Kim DH*.
Ultrafast Single-band Upconversion Luminescence in a Liquid-quenched Amorphous Matrix, Advanced Materials, 30 (25), 2018.

5. Ferhan AR, Jackman JA, Park JH, Cho NJ*, Kim DH*.
Nanoplasmonic Sensors for Detecting Circulating Cancer Biomarkers, Advanced Drug Delivery Review, 125, 48-77, 2017.

6. Ferhan AR, Kim DH*.
Nanoparticle Polymer Composites on Solid Substrates for Plasmonic Sensing Applications, Nano Today, 11, 415–434, 2016.

7. Chen X, Xu W, Zhang L, Bai X, Cui S, Zhou D, Yin Z, Song H, Kim DH.
Large Upconversion Enhancement in the “Islands” Au–Ag Alloy/NaYF4: Yb3+,Tm3+/Er3+ Composite Films, and Fingerprint Identification, Advanced Functional Materials, 25,(34) 5462–5471, 2015.

8. Guo L, Jackman JA, Yang HH, Chen P, Cho NJ, Kim DH*.
Strategies for Enhancing the Sensitivity of Plasmonic Nanosensors, Nano Today, 10, 213—239, 2015.

9. Guo L, Xu Y, Ferhan AR, Chen G, Kim DH*.
Oriented gold nanoparticle aggregation for colorimetric sensors with surprisingly high analytical figures of merit, Journal of American Chemical Society, 135, 2338−12345, 2013

10. Si P, Ding S, Yuan J, Lou XW, Kim DH*.
Hierarchically structured one-dimensional TiO2 for protein immobilization, direct electrochemistry and mediator-free glucose sensing, ACS Nano, 5 (9), 7617–7626, 2011

Professional Experience

∙ 성균관대학교 화학공학/고분자공학부 부교수
∙ Assistant Chair of Research, Nanyang Technological University, School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, Singapore
∙ Assistant/Associate Professor, Nanyang Technological University, School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, Singapore
∙ Research Associate, Duke University, Durham, NC, Biomedical Eng.