Albert Liu

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering, 2020
Advisor: Michael S. Strano

California Institute of Technology
B.S. in Chemical Engineering,  2014

Arming nano-electronics with mobility extends artificial systems into traditionally inaccessible environments. Albert’s prior work has established that carbon nanotubes (1D), graphene (2D) and other crystalline materials with well-defined lattice structures can be incorporated into polymer microparticles, granting them unique electronic functions. The resulting colloidal electronic ‘cells’ (ca. 10 μm in diameter), comprised of microscopic circuits connecting artificial ‘organelles’ (e.g., generators, sensors, logic gates, etc.), combine the modularity of modern electronics with the characteristic mobility found in dispersive colloidal systems. They perform autonomous functions integrating optical energy harvesting, chemical detection and digital memory recording – all within a form-factor no larger than biological cells.

The Liu laboratory seeks to advance device capabilities for individual colloidal electronic particles, and explores higher-order assemblies of these building-blocks into hierarchical colloidal electronic matter. This research program, positioned at the intersection between materials design, chemical catalysis, and electronic device fabrication, aims to address one central challenge: Can we build materials the way nature builds us? Biological scaffolds are constructed with long-range order that spans many orders of magnitude, affording control checkpoints not only at the molecular (e.g., protein) level, but also on the micro- (e.g., organelle) and meso- (e.g., cellular) scales. The ability to create ‘tissue’-like colloidal electronic matter, consisting of heterogeneously integrated electronic ‘cells’, will enable access to complex functions observed previously only in biological systems.

• Early Career Advisory Board, ACS Materials Letters, American Chemical Society, 2020
• Rising Star, IEEE Solid-State Circuits Society, 2020
• MRS Graduate Student Award, Materials Research Society, 2020
• Individual Accomplishment Citation, Department of Chemical Engineering, MIT, 2019
• Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Award (for 10.65 – Chemical Reaction Engineering), MIT, 2019
• Teaching Development Fellowship, MIT, 2018
• Inorganic Materials Graduate Student Award, American Institute of Chemical Engineering, 2018
• 1st Place Team Award, Harvard Surgical Program in Innovation, Harvard Medical School, 2018
• Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Award (for 10.50 – Analysis of Transport Phenomena), MIT, 2017
• Carbon Nanomaterials Graduate Student Award, American Institute of Chemical Engineering, 2016
• Presidential Graduate Fellowship, MIT, 2014
• Jack E. Froehlich Memorial Award, Caltech, 2013

• See full list of publications from Google Scholar
• (* denotes equal contribution)
• Liu, A. T.*, Yang, J. F.*, LeMar, L. N., Zhang, G., Pervan A., Murphey, T. D., Strano, M. S., “Autoperforation of Two-Dimensional Materials to Generate Colloidal State Machines Capable of Locomotion,” Faraday Discussions (2020)
• Liu, P.*, Liu, A. T.*, Kozawa, D. Dong, J., Yang, J. F., Koman, V. B., Saccone, M., Wang, S., Son, Y., Wong, M. H., Strano, M. S.,  “Autoperforation of 2D Materials for Generating Two-Terminal Memristive Janus Particles,” Nature Materials (2018)
• Watch video about research
• Koman, V. B., Liu, P., Kozawa, D., Liu, A. T., Cottrill, A. L., Son, Y., Lebron, J. A., Strano, M. S., “Colloidal Nanoelectronic State Machines Based on 2D Materials for Aerosolizable Electronics,” Nature Nanotechnology (2018)
• Liu, A. T., Zhang, G., Cottrill, A. L., Kunai, Y., Kaplan, A., Liu, P., Koman, V. B., Strano, M. S., “Direct Electricity Generation Mediated by Molecular Interactions with Low Dimensional Carbon Materials—A Mechanistic Perspective,” Advanced Energy Materials (2018)
• Liu, A. T.*, Kunai, Y.*, Liu, P., Kaplan, A., Cottrill, A. L., Smith-Dell, J. S., Strano, M. S., “Electrical Energy Generation via Reversible Chemical Doping on Carbon Nanotube Fibers,” Advanced Materials, (2016)
• Kunai, Y.*, Liu, A. T.*, Cottrill, A. L., Koman, V. B., Liu, P., Kozawa, D., Gong, X., Strano, M. S., “Observation of the Marcus Inverted Region of Electron Transfer from Asymmetric Chemical Doping of Pristine (n,m) Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes,” J. Am. Chem. Soc. (2017)
• Mahajan, S. G.*, Liu, A. T.*, Cottrill, A. L., Kunai, Y., Bender, D., Castillo, J. Jr., Gibbs, S. L., Strano, M. S., “Sustainable Power Sources Based on High Efficiency Thermopower Wave Devices,” Energy Environ. Sci. (2016)
• Cottrill, A. L., Liu, A. T., Kunai, Y. et al., “Ultra-high thermal effusivity materials for resonant ambient thermal energy harvesting,” Nature Communications  (2018)
• Liu, A. T., Zaveri, R. A., Seinfeld, J. H. “Analytical Solution for Transient Partitioning and Reaction of a Condensing Vapor Species in a Droplet,” Atmospheric Environment (2014)
• Liu, A. T., Emenike, B. U., Carroll, W. R., Roberts, J. D., “Conformational Equilibria of N, N-Dimethylsuccinamic Acid and Its Lithium Salt as a Function of Solvent,” Organic Letters (2013)
• Schmidt, J., Choi, J., Liu, A. T., Slusarczyk, M., Fu, G. C., “A General, Modular Method for the Catalytic Asymmetric Synthesis of Alkylboronate Esters,” Science (2016)