Dr. Christine Aikens
Christine Aikens

University Distinguished Professor

location CBC 428
email Email Professor Aikens
Research Themes
Functional Materials, Catalysis, and Nanochemistryblank spacerSpectroscopy, Imaging, and Dynamicsblank spacerTheory, Computation, and Advance Analytics
Lab Website Link

Biography
2020-Pres.
2015-2020
2012-2015
2007-2012
2005-2007
2000-2005
1996-2000		 University Distinguished Professor
Professor
Associate Professor
Assistant Professor
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Northwestern University
Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry, Iowa State University
B.S. in Chemistry, University of Oklahoma

Research Overview

One of the major research aims in the Aikens group involves developing a theoretical understanding of the relationship between structure and properties of nanomaterials. This includes studying the structure, chemical, and spectroscopic properties of gold and silver nanoparticles, often in collaboration with experimental groups. Excited state properties are of significant interest, and the Aikens group has developed fast approximate methods to explore excited state potential energy surfaces.

Selected recent publications
  1. Electronic Excited-State Dynamics of Au25 and Au38 Studied by Ab Initio Transient Absorption Spectroscopy. Z. Liu, J. Krumland, C. Cocchi, C. M. Aikens, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2026, 148, 23891-23903. https://pubs.acs.org/jacsat/article/148/23/23891/5233473
  2. Implementation of Analytical Excited State Gradients for Open-Shell Systems in Time-Dependent Density Functional Theory plus Tight Binding (TDDFT+TB) Method. D. S. N. D. Samarasinghe, S. Havenridge, C. M. Aikens, J. Chem. Phys., 2026, 164, 214117. https://pubs.aip.org/aip/jcp/article/164/21/214117/3393558
  3. Gaussian Process Approach to Constructing Transferable Force Fields for Thiolate-Protected Gold Nanoclusters. Y. Wang, D. S. N. D. Samarasinghe, H. Deng, B. Liu, C. M. Aikens, J. Chem. Inf. Model. 2025, 65, 3892-3902. https://pubs.acs.org/jcisd8/article/65/8/3892/3686929
  4. Au20Ag32 Nanocluster Emitting Bright NIR-II Photoluminescence with Quantum Yield of 30% in Aerated Solution. A. Sardar, Y. Wang, G. He, C. Gianopoulos, D. S. N. D. Samarasinghe, Z. Liu, K. Kirschbaum, C. M. Aikens, R. Jin, ACS Nano, 2026, 20, 8827-8837. https://pubs.acs.org/ancac3/article/20/10/8827/5151995
  5. Engineering Molecular Rotor-Stator Ligand Architectures on Copper Nanoclusters for Efficient Photothermal Conversion. B. Z. Yan, D. S. N. D. Samarasinghe, J. Sun, H. W. Deng, L. Li, M. Q. Qi, F. M. Zhao, Q. H. Xu, H. F. Guo, X. L. Sun, X. K. Gong, R. Huo, M. S. Zhu, Q. Y. Wu, Z. L. Xie, C. R. Xin, Y. Q. Wang, X. T. Jiang, S. M. Li, F. Y. Li, M. Zhou, C. M. Aikens, N. F. Zheng, H. Shen, Nature Commun., 2026, 17, 3388. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-70141-8

Selected classic publications
  1. Electronic and Geometric Structure, Optical Properties, and Excited State Behavior in Atomically-Precise Thiolate-Stabilized Noble Metal Nanoparticles. C. M. Aikens, Acc. Chem. Res., 2018, 51, 3065-3073. (Invited article for Special Issue on “Toward Atomic Precision in Nanoscience”) https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.accounts.8b00364
  2. Theoretical Insights into the Origin of Photoluminescence of Au25(SR)18 - Nanoparticles. K. L. D. M. Weerawardene, C. M. Aikens, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2016, 138, 11202-11210. http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jacs.6b05293
  3. Quantum Mechanical Origin of the Plasmon: From Molecular Systems to Nanoparticles. E. B. Guidez, C. M. Aikens, Nanoscale, 2014, 6, 11512-11527. (Invited Feature Article) http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/c4nr02225d
  4. Chirality and Electronic Structure of the Thiolate-Protected Au38 Nanocluster. O. Lopez-Acevedo, H. Tsunoyama, T. Tsukuda, H. Häkkinen, C. M. Aikens, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2010, 132, 8210-8218. (Featured in JACS Select) http://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/ja102934q
  5. Correlating the Crystal Structure of a Thiol-Protected Au25 Cluster and Optical Properties. M. Zhu, C. M. Aikens, F. J. Hollander, G. C. Schatz, R. Jin, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2008, 130, 5883-5885. http://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/ja801173r