Grad Student
University of Colorado at Boulder
University of Colorado at Boulder / Chemistry Dep.
Boulder, CO, United States
My name is Saghar Rezaie. I was born in Iran in 1991 and earned my bachelor's degree in Pure Chemistry from the University of Zanjan. I then pursued a master's degree in Inorganic Chemistry at K. N. Toosi University of Technology in Tehran, where my thesis focused on the preparation, characterization, and catalytic activity of metalloporphyrins grafted onto graphene oxide. This work led to the publication of two peer-reviewed articles:
Mn(III)-porphyrin/graphene oxide nanocomposite as an efficient catalyst for the aerobic oxidation of hydrocarbons (DOI: 10.1016/j.crci.2018.03.003)
Catalytic activity of Mn(III) porphyrins supported onto graphene oxide nano-sheets for green oxidation of sulfides (DOI: 10.1080/00958972.2019.1610562)
In 2022, I moved to the United States to pursue a Ph.D. in Chemistry and joined Professor Josef Michl’s research group at the University of Colorado Boulder. My research focused on Porphene, a novel two-dimensional material composed of a regular tiling of 5-, 6-, 8-, and 16-membered rings.
Tragically, Professor Michl passed away on May 13, 2024. He was a remarkable scientist and mentor, and it was one of the greatest honors of my life to work with him.
Since June 2024, I have been working as a research assistant in Professor Seth Marder's group, where my research focuses on ligand engineering for quantum dots. I am developing phosphonic acid-based ligands for QD surface modification, aiming to enhance their optical properties and stability within liquid crystal matrices. This work involves extensive organic synthesis and purification, along with characterization techniques such as NMR, IR, Mass Spectrometry, UV-Vis, and chromatography.
Concurrently, I collaborate with Dr. Sadegh Yazdi on advanced Transmission Electron Microscopy techniques, including STEM, EDS, and EELS. We are investigating structural and electronic properties of nanomaterials such as PbS superlattices and colossal CdSe/CdS QDs, focusing on bandgap mapping, plasmonic features, morphology, size distribution, and the influence of ligand exchange.
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Wednesday, July 30, 2025
11:45 AM - 12:00 PM MT