Dr. Kathryn Newton - NMU Chemistry

Office: 3120 Weston
Phone: 906-227-2176
Email: kanewton@nmu.edu

• Ph.D. University of California, Davis, 2019. Research Advisor: Susan Kauzlarich
• B.A. Cornell University, 2012. Research Advisor: Frank DiSalvo

I teach CH 215 Chemistry of the Elements, CH 415 Inorganic Chemistry, and CH 112 General Chemistry 2. I have also taught CH 242 Quantitative Analysis and look forward to teaching CH 111 General Chemistry 1 in the future. In the classroom and lab, I enjoy helping students to add to their toolbox of chemistry skills and to practice explaining chemistry using their own words. I enjoy helping students to set and achieve their goals for their learning.

My research group applies microwave-assisted heating methods to the synthesis and modification of metal oxide nanomaterials. Microwave-assisted heating is localized, allowing reactions to be accomplished at lower temperatures in less time than traditional heating methods. Many metal oxide nanomaterials are also semiconductors with desirable properties for optoelectronic and photocatalytic applications. These properties depend on the size, chemical composition, shape, crystallinity, and surface passivation of the particles. My group is interested in understanding the relationship between synthesis, structure, and properties so we can tailor materials for energy conversion, remediation, and sensing application.

In graduate school I studied semiconductor nanomaterials, which have applications in solar energy conversion. In one project, I studied how photocatalytic water oxidation is affected by the size of the WO3 nanoparticle catalysts. I have also studied the synthesis and ligand exchange of Ge and Ge1-xSnx nanocrystals using microwave-assisted reactions. Ge is a direct band gap semiconductor material. By tailoring the size, composition, surface-capping ligand, and morphology of the Ge nanocrystals, we can tune the band gap energy of these materials.

• Newton, K. A.; Sully, R. S.; Bridges, F.; Carter, S. A.; Kauzlarich, S. M. Structural Characterization of Oleylamine and Dodecanethiol Capped Ge1-xSnx Alloy Nanocrystals. J. Phys. Chem. C 2021, 125 (11), 6401-6417. DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcc.0c11637.
• Newton, K. A.; Ju, Z.; Tabatabaei, K.; Kauzlarich, S. M. Diorganyl Dichalcogenides as Surface Capping Ligands for Germanium Nanocrystals. Organomet. 2020, 39 (7), 995-1005. DOI: 10.1021/acs.organomet.9b00749.
• Newton, K. A.; Osterloh, F. E. Size and Morphology of Suspended WO3 Particles Control Photochemical Charge Carrier Extraction and Photocatalytic Water Oxidation Activity. Topics in Catalysis. 2016, 59(8-9), 750-756. DOI: 10.1007/s11244-016-0549-3.