J. Nathan Hohman

Assistant Professor

Department of Chemistry

Education

  • Staff Scientist, The Molecular Foundry, Berkeley Laboratory, 2015-2019
  • Postdoc, Stanford University, 2012-2014
  • Ph.D., The Pennsylvania State University, 2004-2011
  • B.S., Butler University, 2000-2004

Research Interests

Our research is devoted to the design and synthesis of nanomaterials and nanointerfaces for applications ranging from new semiconductors and superconductors to supramolecular coatings for defending against pathogenic viruses and microbes. We aim to leverage supramolecular chemistry—the weaker interactions between molecular building blocks—to engineer superior properties in matter. The laboratory focuses on synthetic problems of controlling where molecules go and how they interact with one another and their environment when they get there. We employ a wide range of characterization techniques including electron microscopy and contact angle goniometry to explore morphology and the interactions of surfaces with their environment to serial femtosecond crystallography utilizing an X-ray Free Electron Laser to explore the structure and dynamics of nanocrystals.

Making materials very small or very thin has been an easy way to prepare exciting new materials. For example, single layers from graphite or molybdenite (MoS2) have found new life as ultrathin 2D materials. But what if we didn’t have to thin them out and control them at the single layer? Through the use of hybrid materials like hybrid perovskites and metal organic chalcogenide assemblies (MOCHAs), low-dimensional nanostructures can be prepared that are part of a crystalline ensemble, unlocking new portions of the period table to the exploration of low-dimensional phases. Our key interests are related to understanding the origin of how structure leads to function in complex materials. We are also interested in learning how to solve the synthetic problems that will lead to the design of custom-built materials for new advances in sensing, batteries, photovoltaics, or advanced manufacturing. Other applications include adsorption, sensors, and battery materials.

Publications

Ultrastrong light-matter coupling in two-dimensional metal-organic chalcogenolates Anantharaman, Surendra B.; Lynch, Jason; Aleksich, Mariya; Stevens, Christopher E.; Munley, Christopher; Choi, Bongjun; Shenoy, Sridhar; Darlington, Thomas; Majumdar, Arka; Schuck, P. James; et al., Nature Photonics (2025), 19(3), 322-328

Ligand-Mediated Quantum Yield Enhancement in 1-D Silver Organothiolate Metal-Organic Chalcogenolates Aleksich, Mariya; Cho, Yeongsu; Paley, Daniel W.; Willson, Maggie C.; Nyiera, Hawi N.; Kotei, Patience A.; Oklejas, Vanessa; Mittan-Moreau, David W.; Schriber, Elyse A.; Christensen, Kara; et al. Advanced Functional Materials (2025), 35(6), 2414914

Nucleophilic Displacement Reactions of Silver-Based Metal-Organic Chalcogenolates Fan, Qiaoling; Willson, Maggie C.; Foell, Kristen A.;Paley, Daniel W.; Kotei, Patience A.; Schriber, Elyse A.; Rosenberg, Daniel J.; Rani, Komal; Tchon, Daniel M.; Zeller, Matthias; et al. Journal of the American Chemical Society (2024), 146(44), 30349-30360

Schriber, E. A.; Paley, D. W.; Bolotovsky, R.; Rosenberg, D. J.; Sierra, R. G.; Aquila, A.; Mendez, D.; Poitevin, F.; Blaschke, J. P.; Bhowmick, A.; Kelly, R. P.; Hunter, M.; Hayes, B.; Popple, D. C.; Yeung, M.; Pareja-Rivera, C.; Lisova, S.; Tono, K.; Sugahara, M.; Owada, S.; Kuykendall, T.; Yao, K.; Schuck, P. J.; Solis-Ibarra, D.; Sauter, N. K.; Brewster, A. S.; Hohman, J. N. Chemical Crystallography by Serial Femtosecond X-Ray Diffraction. Nature 2022, 601 (7893), 360–365.

Schriber, E. A.; Rosenberg, D. J.; Kelly, R. P.; Ghodsi, A.; Hohman, J. N. Investigation of Nucleation and Growth at a Liquid–Liquid Interface by Solvent Exchange and Synchrotron Small-Angle X-Ray Scattering. Chem. 2021, 9.

Yeung, M.; Popple, D. C.; Schriber, E. A.; Teat, S. J.; Beavers, C. M.; Demessence, A.; Kuykendall, T. R.; Hohman, J. N. Corrosion of Late-and Post-Transition Metals into Metal-Organic Chalcogenolates and Implications for Nanodevice Architectures. ACS Appl. Nano Mater. 2020, 3 (4), 3568–3577.

Trang, B.; Yeung, M.; Popple, D. C.; Schriber, E. A.; Brady, M. A.; Kuykendall, T. R.; Hohman, J. N. Tarnishing Silver Metal into Mithrene. J Am. Chem. Soc. 2018, 140 (42), 13892–13903.

Schriber, E. A.; Popple, D. C.; Yeung, M.; Brady, M. A.; Corlett, S. A.; Hohman, “Mithrene Is a Self-Assembling Robustly Blue Luminescent Metal-Organic Chalcogenolate Assembly for 2d Optoelectronic Applications. ACS Appl. Nano Mater. 2018, 1 (7), 3498–3508.

Yan, H.; Yang, F.; Pan, D.; Lin, Y.; Hohman, J. N.; Solis-Ibarra, D.; Li, F. H.; Dahl, J. E. P.; Carlson, R. M. K.; Tkachenko, B. A.; Fokin, A. A.; Schreiner, P. R.; Galli, G.; Mao, W. L.; Shen, Z.-X.; Melosh, N. A., Sterically Controlled Mechanochemistry under Hydrostatic Pressure. Nature. 2018, 554, 505.

Popple, D. C.; Schriber, E. A.; Yeung, M.; Hohman, J. N., Competing Roles of Crystallization and Degradation of a Metal–Organic Chalcogenolate Assembly under Biphasic Solvothermal Conditions. Langmuir 2018, 34, 14265-14273.

Yan, H.; Hohman, J. N.; Li, F. H.; Jia, C.; Solis-Ibarra, D.; Wu, B.; Dahl, J. E. P.; Carlson, R. M. K.; Tkachenko, B. A.; Fokin, A. A.; Schreiner, P. R.; Vailionis, A.; Kim, T. R.; Devereaux, T. P.; Shen, Z.-X.; Melosh, N. A., Hybrid Metal–Organic Chalcogenide Nanowires with Electrically Conductive Inorganic Core through Diamondoid-Directed Assembly. Mater. 2017, 16, 349-355.

James N. Hohman
Contact Information
Emailjames.hohman@uconn.edu
Phone860-486-9253
Mailing Address25 King Hill Road, Unit 3136, Storrs, CT 06269-3136
Office LocationScience 1 - MZ1021
CampusStorrs
Linkhttps://hohman.chemistry.uconn.edu/