Michael Zach
Glenn Seaborg Postdoctoral Researcher
Materials Science Division; Bldg. 223
Argonne National Laboratory
9700 S. Cass Ave.
Argonne IL 60439
phone: 630-252-6676
fax: 630-252-4748
email: mzach@anl.gov
Visit my Micro/Nano research lab
Visit my Machine Shop, Electronics Shop and Labview programming off-site laboratory
Education
Professional Experience
Awards
- Elected to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Pacific Division (AAAS-PD) Board of Directors as Council Member at Large. Term 2002 -2005.
- AAAS-PD, Larus Travel Award to compete at National AAAS meeting in Boston, February 2002.
- Miller Research Fellowship for post-doctoral research at University of California, Berkeley. Awarded December 2001. Started July 2002. Guaranteed funding for up to three years.
- Microscopy and Microanalysis, National Meeting, Second Place Poster, ($125 cash award), Awarded August 2001.
- AAAS-PD, Regional Meeting, First Place in Engineering and Industrial Chemistry Division ($175 cash award), Presidential Award ($175 cash award), June 2001.
- University of California, Irvine, E.K.C. Lee Memorial Award, Chemistry Department’s highest award given to graduate students, ($1000 cash award) Awarded May 2001.
- American Chemical Society - Division of Analytical Chemistry Graduate Student Fellowship/Merck Fellowship ($15,000 stipend), June 2001 to March 2002.
- Southern California Chapter of the American Vacuum Society Second Place Student Paper, ($300 cash award), October 2000.
- University of California, Irvine, Departmental Award for Outstanding Teaching Assistant Honorable Mention for 1998-1999.
- University of California, Irvine, Departmental Award for Outstanding Teaching Assistant for 1997-1998 ($100 cash award).
- University of California, Head Teaching Assistant for Analytical, Nuclear, and General Chemistry Courses, various quarters 1998-2000.
- University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point, Chancellor's Leadership Award, 1997.
- University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point, Graduation with Honors.
Associations
- American Chemical Society.
- The Electrochemical Society.
- American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
- Microscopy Society of America.
- State Microscopy Society of Illinois .
Research Interests
Combinatorial Electrodeposition
Electrodeposition gives us a tool to make structures at the nanometer to millimeter scale. Electrodeposition on low free energy surfaces, like graphite or silicon wafers, gives us a special tool because most materials form stable three-dimensional islands, sometimes single crystal deposits and are often epitaxially grown. This island-like growth is called the Volmer-Weber growth mechanism and it is due to internal cohesive forces within the deposited materials being stronger than the forces that hold the particles to the electrode.
However, electrodeposition remains an underutilized method of synthesis. The sizes, shapes and orientations of the particles observed upon a single electrode are often varied. When multiple experiments taking place in different laboratories are compared, the results may seem irreproducible because the key parameters for deposition have not been identified and duplicated. When considering how sensitive the morphology is towards concentration, adsorbates, potential and nearly 20 different experimentally controllable variables, it is not surprising that much of the literature is ambiguous, conflicting and often difficult to interpret.
To overcome the variability associated with manual syntheses, a completely automated system for combinatorial electrodeposition is being assembled to create nano and microstructures in my lab. This nearly completed system is capable of automated mixing, filling, and deposition for an unlimited number of variations of deposition conditions. In addition, automated exchange of solutions for a limited number of automated analyses will help in characterizing the resulting deposits.
Micro and nano spheres for drug delivery
Chemotherapy agents are often effective against tumors, but are also known for their toxicity to healthy tissue. One proposed method for minimizing the sickening side effects is to treat only the tumor instead of the whole body. By encapsulating the drugs along with magnetic nanoparticles within hollow biodegradable polymer spheres the body’s circulatory system can be used to circulate these capsules throughout the body. A localized strong magnetic field can be used to trap the particles at the site of the tumor until the polymer casings can be broken down by the body to release their contents. This method of drug delivery increases the effectiveness of delivery by reducing the overall dose, while increasing the dose delivered to the target site.
To make capsules suitable for injection, both the size and the wall thickness must be carefully controlled so these particles will all have uniform properties. Previous methods for encapsulation have not been suitable because they result in spheres that have a large distribution of sizes. Novel flow through cell designs for making the particles are yielding tighter distributions of sizes than are currently being made by the emulsion methods.
Hydrogen Sensors
Research for finding alternatives to fossil fuels is often suggesting hydrogen as the future energy transfer medium of choice. Many technical hurdles exist before hydrogen can be used in our cars, homes and businesses. Hydrogen is a colorless, tasteless gas that in the range of 4 to 70% concentration with air is considered explosive. Currently available sensors use technology that is both expensive and slow with response times that are in the range of 10s of seconds to minutes. If a leak is present, rapid response at levels below the lower explosion limit may be needed to prevent a catastrophic event. By using thin films of palladium on a surface that has been treated with a surface bound lubricant like a siloxane, the world’s fastest hydrogen sensors have been created here at Argonne National Laboratory. These sensors have response times of about 70 milliseconds and can detect concentrations as low as 25ppm. Full details for this can be found in our Advanced Physics Letters, 86, 203104 (2005)
Publications
- T. Xu*, M. P. Zach, Z.L.Xiao, D.Rosenmann, U.Welp, W.K.Kwok, G.W.Crabtree; Self-Assembled Monolayer-Enhanced Hydrogen Sensing with Ultrathin Palladium Films Appl. Phys. Lett. 86, 203104 (2005)
- M.P.Zach, J.Newberg, L.Sierra, J.Hemminger, R.M.Penner*, Chemical Vapor Deposition of Silica Micro- and NanoribbonsUsing Step-Edge Localized Water, J. Phys. Chem., B, 107 (23) 5393-5397.
- E.C. Walter, M.P. Zach, F. Favier, B.J. Murray, K. Inazu, J.C. Hemminger, and R.M. Penner*, Metal Nanowire Arrays by Electrodeposition, ChemPhysChem (2003) 4 (2) 131-138.
- M.P.Zach, K.Inazu, K.H. Ng, J.Hemminger, R.M.Penner*, Synthesis of Molybdenum Nanowires with Millimeter-Scale Lengths Using Electrochemical StepEdge Decoration, Chem. Mater. 14 (2002) 3206-3216.
- E.C. Walter, M.P. Zach, F. Favier, B.J. Murray, K. Inazu, J.C. Hemminger, and R.M. Penner* " Electrodeposition of Portable Metal Nanowire Arrays ", in: Physical Chemistry of Interfaces and Nanomaterials, Proc., Eds. Jin Z. Zhang, Zhong L. Wang, SPIE 2002 (2002) ISBN 0-8194-4575-4.
- E.C. Walter, R.M. Penner, H. Liu, K.H. Ng, M.P. Zach, F. Favier*, Sensors From Electrodeposited Metal Nanowires, Surface and Interface Analysis, 34 (1) 409-412.
- E.C. Walter, K. Ng, M.P. Zach, R.M. Penner, F. Favier, Electronic devices from electrodeposited metal nanowires, Microelectronic Engineering, 61-2: 555-561(2002).
- F. Favier, E.Walter, M.P.Zach, T.Benter, R.M.Penner, Hydrogen Sensors and Switches from Electrodeposited Palladium Nanowires, Science, V293, 2227-2231 (2001).
- H.Liu, F.Favier, K.Ng, M.P.Zach, and R.M. Penner*, A General Method for the Electrodeposition of Dimensionally Uniform Meso-Scale Metal Particles, Electrochimica Acta, 47 (2001) 671.
- P.D. Markowitz, M.P. Zach, P.D. Gibbons, R.M. Penner, and W. E. Buhro*, Phase Separation in AlxGa1-xAs Nanowhiskers Grown by the Solution-Liquid-Solid Mechanism, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 123 (2001) 4502.
- S. Gorer, H. Liu, R.M. Stiger, M.P. Zach, James V. Zoval, and R.M. Penner*, "The Handbook of Metal Nanoparticles: Synthesis, Characterization, and Applications." C.Foss and D. Feldheim, Eds., Marcel-Dekker Inc., (2001).
- M.P. Zach, K.H. Ng and R.M. Penner*, Molybdenum Nanowires by Electrodeposition, Science, V290, 2120-2123 (2000) (Selected as cover story).
- M.P. Zach and R.M. Penner, Size-Monodisperse and Nanocrystalline Nickel Nanoparticles, Adv. Mat., 12 (2000) 878.
U.S. Patents
- 6,843,902 Methods for Fabricating Metal Nanowires, R.M.Penner, M.P.Zach, F.Favier, January 18,2005
- Ultrafast Hydrogen Sensors, T.Xu, M.P.Zach, Pending
- Combinatorial Electrodeposition System, M.P.Zach Pending
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