Paul Smeets, PhD

NUANCE TEM & FIB Manager

Materials Science and Engineering

Northwestern University

AB Wing AG96, Tech Institute

2145 Sheridan Road

Evanston Il, 60208-3113

Phone: 847-491-7807

email: paul.smeets@northwestern.edu

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Educational Background

Current	Research Assistant Professor of Materials Science and Engineering / NUANCE TEM & FIB Manager (Northwestern University, USA)
2019-2022	Research Associate / NUANCE TEM & FIB Manager, Materials Science and Engineering (Northwestern University, USA)
2016-2019	Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Materials Science and Engineering (Northwestern University, USA)
2011-2016	PhD Molecular Systems and Materials Chemistry, (Eindhoven University of Technology, Netherlands)
2008-2011	M.Sc. Chemical Engineering, (Eindhoven University of Technology, Netherlands)
2004-2008	B.Sc. Chemical Engineering, (Eindhoven University of Technology, Netherlands)

Research Objective

My research interests can be broadly categorized as unraveling the physicochemical interactions and structure-property relationships in hybrid materials, with emphasis on nano- and atomic scale characterization. To this end, I focus mainly on the use of advanced electron microscopy.

(Aberration-corrected) High-Resolution (S)TEM, EDS and EELS
Focused Ion Beam sample preparation for TEM & atom probe tomography
Development and application of low-dose electron microscopy methods to mitigate beam-sample interaction

Honors & Awards

2019, Microscopy and Microanalysis Postdoctoral Scholar Award
2018, KNCV Piet Bennema Award for Crystal Growth
2018, Microscopy and Microanalysis Postdoctoral Scholar Award

Publications and Supported Works

P.J.M. Smeets, K.R. Cho, R.G.E. Kempen, N.A.J.M. Sommerdijk and J.J. De Yoreo. Calcium carbonate nucleation driven by ion binding in a biomimetic matrix revealed by in situ electron microscopy. Nature Materials 14, 394-399 (2015). (Highly cited paper on Web of Science)
P.J.M. Smeets, A.R. Finney, W.J.E.M. Habraken, F. Nudelman, H. Friedrich, J. Laven, J.J. De Yoreo, P.M. Rodger and N.A.J.M. Sommerdijk. A classical view on nonclassical nucleation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences U.S.A. 114, E7882–E7890 (2017).
P.J.M. Smeets, K.R. Cho, N.A.J.M. Sommerdijk and J.J. De Yoreo. A Mesocrystal-Like Morphology Formed by Classical Polymer-Mediated Crystal Growth. Advanced Functional Materials 27, 1701658 (2017).
M.L. Whittaker, P.J.M. Smeets, H. Asayesh-Ardakani, R. Shahbazian-Yassar and D. Joester. Multi-Step Crystallization of Barium Carbonate: Rapid Interconversion of Amorphous and Crystalline Precursors. Angewandte Chemie International Edition 56, 16028 –16031 (2017).
Y.-Y. Kim, M. Semsarilar, J.D. Carloni, K.R. Cho, A.N. Kulak, I. Polishchuk, C.T. Hendley, P.J.M. Smeets, L.A. Fielding, B. Pokroy, C.C. Tang, L.A. Estroff, S.P. Baker, S.P. Armes and F.C. Meldrum. Structure and Properties of Nanocomposites Formed by the Occlusion of Block Copolymer Worms and Vesicles Within Calcite Crystals. Advanced Functional Materials 26, 1382-1392 (2016).
J.N. Olding, A. Henning, J.T. Dong, Q. Zhou, M.J. Moody, P.J.M. Smeets, P. Darancet, E.A. Weiss, and L.J. Lauhon. Charge Separation in Epitaxial SnS/MoS2 Vertical Heterojunctions Grown by Low-Temperature Pulsed MOCVD. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces 11, 40543-40550 (2019).