B.Sc in Chemistry :- Melbourne University, Australia
Dissertation: Synthesis and optical studies of upconverting rare-earth nanocrystals

PhD in Chemistry :- University of Canterbury, New Zealand
Thesis: Electron microscopy, spectroscopy, and catalytic studies of gold nanoclusters

Postdoctoral Research Fellow :- Department of Physics, UM
Synthesis and surface modification of ZnO and CdSe/CdS quantum dots

Email: [email protected] 

I grew up in Melbourne, Australia, an education-oriented city with many university buildings (RMIT, Melbourne and Monash Parkville) scattered around the city. My academic and scientific journey started at Melbourne University as a chemistry student. Towards the end of my first degree I gained interest in nanotechnology particularly quantum dots and plasmonic nanomaterials. A year after graduation I went to Christchurch, New Zealand to pursue PhD degree with focus on atomically-precise gold-based nanoclusters for application in catalysis and sensing. Much of the works involved traditional organometallic chemistry (and the use of Schlenk line technique, of course), a continuation from what I learnt in Melbourne. At that time I was pretty much involved in synchrotron spectroscopy particularly XPS, XAS and far-infrared performed at Australian Synchrotron in Clayton. It was a good chance because I could visit my beautiful hometown Melbourne and traveled between Christchurch and Melbourne frequently.

I was then a postdoctoral research fellow (PDRF) at a physics department playing a role as synthetic chemist. At that time, I was exposed to synchrotron radiation facilities in Thailand named Synchrotron Light Research Institute (SLRI). I established international, interdisciplinary collaborations with solid state physicists, surface scientists and computational chemists from Australia, New Zealand, Thailand and Japan.