Joseph Tracy

Professor

University Faculty Scholar

919-513-2623
jbtracy@ncsu.edu
Engineering Building I (EB1) 3074D
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Many kinds of nanoscale materials have size- and shape-tunable physical properties arising from their reduced dimensions and high surface area to volume ratio. We prepare colloidal magnetic, metallic, and semiconductor nanoparticles using a “bottom-up” approach starting from molecular precursors. Surface functionalization allows for integration with other kinds of materials, such as polymers and biological systems. Applying magnetic fields to suspensions of magnetic nanoparticles drives their assembly into chains, altering their magnetic and mechanical properties. The surface plasmon resonance of noble metal nanoparticles is sensitive to interparticle coupling and is useful for photothermal heating. Semiconductor quantum dots have high fluorescence quantum yields and are not susceptible to photobleaching.

Dr. Tracy’s research interests include the synthesis, characterization, and self-assembly of colloidal magnetic, metallic, and semiconductor nanoparticles, and their applications in composite materials, medicine, and catalysis.

Education

Ph.D. 2005

Physical Chemistry

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

B.S. 2000

Chemistry

University of California, Santa Barbara

Publications

Understanding and Controlling the Morphology of Silica Shells on Gold Nanorods: Rowe, L. R., Chapman, B. S., & Tracy, J. B. (2018), CHEMISTRY OF MATERIALS, 30(18), 6249–6258. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemmater.8b00794
Chained iron microparticles for directionally controlled actuation of soft robots: Schmauch, M. M., Mishra, S. R., Evans, B. A., Velev, O. D., & Tracy, J. B. (2017), ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 9(13), 11895–11901.
Direct monitoring of pulmonary disease treatment biomarkers using plasmonic gold nanorods with diffusion-sensitive OCT: Blackmon, R. L., Kreda, S. M., Sears, P. R., Chapman, B. S., Hill, D. B., Tracy, J. B., … Oldenburg, A. L. (2017), Nanoscale, 9(15), 4907–4917.
Enhanced electrochemical lithium-ion charge storage of iron oxide nanosheets: Niu, S., McFeron, R., Godinez-Salomon, F., Chapman, B. S., Damin, C. A., Tracy, J. B., … Rhodes, C. P. (2017), Chemistry of Materials, 29(18), 7794–7807.
Heteroaggregation approach for depositing magnetite nanoparticles onto silica-overcoated gold nanorods: Chapman, B. S., Wu, W. C., Lo, Q. C., Holten-Andersen, N., & Tracy, J. B. (2017), Chemistry of Materials, 29(24), 10362–10368.
Microwave enhancement of autocatalytic growth of nanometals: Ashley, B., Vakil, P. N., Lynch, B. B., Dyer, C. M., Tracy, J. B., Owens, J., & Strouse, G. F. (2017), ACS Nano, 11(10), 9957–9967.
Size and composition control of CoNi nanoparticles and their conversion into phosphides: Marusak, K. E., Johnston-Peck, A. C., Wu, W. C., Anderson, B. D., & Tracy, J. B. (2017), Chemistry of Materials, 29(7), 2739–2747.
Diffusion-sensitive optical coherence tomography for real-time monitoring of mucus thinning treatments: Blackmon, R. L., Kreda, S. M., Sears, P. R., Ostrowski, L. E., Hill, D. B., Chapman, B. S., … Oldenburg, A. L. (2016), In Optical coherence tomography and coherence domain optical methods in biomedicine xx (Vol. 9697).
Imaging extracellular matrix remodeling in vitro by diffusion-sensitive optical coherence tomography: Blackmon, R. L., Sandhu, R., Chapman, B. S., Casbas-Hernandez, P., Tracy, J. B., Troester, M. A., & Oldenburg, A. L. (2016), Biophysical Journal, 110(8), 1858–1868.
Selective and directional actuation of elastomer films using chained magnetic nanoparticles: Mishra, S. R., Dickey, M. D., Velev, O. D., & Tracy, J. B. (2016), Nanoscale, 8(3), 1309–1313. https://doi.org/10.1039/c5nr07410j
Silica overcoating of CdSe/CdS Core/shell quantum dot nanorods with controlled morphologies: Anderson, B. D., Wu, W. C., & Tracy, J. B. (2016), Chemistry of Materials, 28(14), 4945–4952.
Large-scale silica overcoating of gold nanorods with tunable shell thicknesses: Wu, W. C., & Tracy, J. B. (2015), Chemistry of Materials, 27(8), 2888–2894.
Photochemical synthesis of size-tailored hexagonal ZnS quantum dots: Gonzalez, C. M., Wu, W. C., Tracy, J. B., & Martin, B. (2015), Chemical Communications, 51(15), 3087–3090.
Thermal stability of gold nanoparticles embedded within metal oxide frameworks fabricated by hybrid modifications onto sacrificial textile templates: Padbury, R. P., Halbur, J. C., Krommenhoek, P. J., Tracy, J. B., & Jur, J. S. (2015), Langmuir, 31(3), 1135–1141.
A dual wavelength-activatable gold nanorod complex for synergistic cancer treatment: Pacardo, D. B., Neupane, B., Rikard, S. M., Lu, Y., Mo, R., Mishra, S. R., … Gu, Z. (2015), Nanoscale, 7(28), 12096–12103. https://doi.org/10.1039/c5nr01568e
Aerosynthesis: Growth of vertically-aligned carbon nanofibres with air DC plasma: Kodumagulla, A., Varanasi, V., Pearce, R. C., Wu, W. C., Hensley, D. K., Tracy, J. B., … Melechko, A. V. (2014), Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology, 4.
Control of branching in Ni3C1-x nanoparticles and their conversion into Ni12P5 Nanoparticles: Sarac, M. F., Wu, W. C., & Tracy, J. B. (2014), Chemistry of Materials, 26(10), 3057–3064.
Nanoparticle conversion chemistry: Kirkendall effect, galvanic exchange, and anion exchange: Anderson, B. D., & Tracy, J. B. (2014), Nanoscale, 6(21), 12195–12216.
Probing biological nanotopology via diffusion of weakly constrained plasmonic nanorods with optical coherence tomography: Chhetri, R. K., Blackmon, R. L., Wu, W. C., Hill, D. B., Button, B., Casbas-Hernandez, P., … Oldenburg, A. L. (2014), Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 111(41), E4289–4297.
Spatial temperature mapping within polymer nanocomposites undergoing ultrafast photothermal heating via gold nanorods: Maity, S., Wu, W. C., Xu, C., Tracy, J. B., Gundogdu, K., Bochinski, J. R., & Clarke, L. I. (2014), Nanoscale, 6(24), 15236–15247.
Airbrushed nickel nanoparticles for large-area growth of vertically aligned carbon nanofibers on metal (Al, Cu, Ti) surfaces: Sarac, M. F., Anderson, B. D., Pearce, R. C., Railsback, J. G., Oni, A. A., White, R. M., … Tracy, J. B. (2013), ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 5(18), 8955–8960.
Anisotropic thermal processing of polymer nanocomposites via the photothermal effect of gold nanorods: Maity, S., Kozek, K. A., Wu, W. C., Tracy, J. B., Bochinski, J. R., & Clarke, L. I. (2013), Particle & Particle Systems Characterization, 30(2), 193–202.
Composition-mediated order-disorder transformation in FePt nanoparticles: Johnston-Peck, A. C., Cullen, D. A., & Tracy, J. B. (2013), Particle & Particle Systems Characterization, 30(8), 678–682.
Large-scale synthesis of gold nanorods through continuous secondary growth: Kozek, K. A., Kozek, K. M., Wu, W. C., Mishra, S. R., & Tracy, J. B. (2013), Chemistry of Materials, 25(22), 4537–4544.
Magnetic field-directed self-assembly of magnetic nanoparticle chains in bulk polymers: Krommenhoek, P. J., & Tracy, J. B. (2013), Particle & Particle Systems Characterization, 30(9), 759–763.
Magnetic field-directed self-assembly of magnetic nanoparticles: Tracy, J. B., & Crawford, T. M. (2013), MRS Bulletin, 38(11), 915–920.
Motility-, autocorrelation-, and polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography discriminates cells and gold nanorods within 3D tissue cultures: Oldenburg, A. L., Chhetri, R. K., Cooper, J. M., Wu, W. C., Troester, M. A., & Tracy, J. B. (2013), Optics Letters, 38(15), 2923–2926.
Nanostructural transformations during the reduction of hollow and porous nickel oxide nanoparticles: Medford, J. A., Johnston-Peck, A. C., & Tracy, J. B. (2013), Nanoscale, 5(1), 155–159.
Transfer of vertically aligned carbon nanofibers to polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) while maintaining their alignment and impalefection functionality: Pearce, R. C., Railsback, J. G., Anderson, B. D., Sarac, M. F., McKnight, T. E., Tracy, J. B., & Melechko, A. V. (2013), ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 5(3), 878–882.
Bulky Adamantanethiolate and Cyclohexanethiolate Ligands Favor Smaller Gold Nanoparticles with Altered Discrete Sizes: Krommenhoek, P. J., Wang, J. W., Hentz, N., Johnston-Peck, A. C., Kozek, K. A., Kalyuzhny, G., & Tracy, J. B. (2012), ACS Nano, 6(6), 4903–4911.
Laterally patterned magnetic nanoparticles: Jie, Y. N., Niskala, J. R., Johnston-Peck, A. C., Krommenhoek, P. J., Tracy, J. B., Fan, H. Q., & You, W. (2012), Journal of Materials Chemistry, 22(5), 1962–1968.
Phase transformation of alumina-coated FePt nanoparticles: Johnston-Peck, A. C., & Tracy, J. B. (2012), Journal of Applied Physics, 111(7).
Coating alumina on catalytic iron oxide nanoparticles for synthesizing vertically aligned carbon nanotube arrays: Wang, X., Krommenhoek, P. J., Bradford, P. D., Gong, B., Tracy, J. B., Parsons, G. N., … Zhu, Y. T. (2011), ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 3(11), 4180–4184. https://doi.org/10.1021/am201082m
Effects of ligand monolayers on catalytic nickel nanoparticles for synthesizing vertically aligned carbon nanofibers: Sarac, M. F., Wilson, R. M., Johnston-Peck, A. C., Wang, J. W., Pearce, R., Klein, K. L., … Tracy, J. B. (2011), ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 3(4), 936–940.
Formation and grain analysis of spin-cast magnetic nanoparticle monolayers: Johnston-Peck, A. C., Wang, J. W., & Tracy, J. B. (2011), Langmuir, 27(8), 5040–5046.
Imaging three-dimensional rotational diffusion of plasmon resonant gold nanorods using polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography: Chhetri, R. K., Kozek, K. A., Johnston-Peck, A. C., Tracy, J. B., & Oldenburg, A. L. (2011), Physical Review. E, Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics, 83(4).
Sinter-free phase conversion and scanning transmission electron microscopy of FePt nanoparticle monolayers: Johnston-Peck, A. C., Scarel, G., Wang, J. W., Parsons, G. N., & Tracy, J. B. (2011), Nanoscale, 3(10), 4142–4149.
Synthesis of Au(Core)/Ag(Shell) nanoparticles and their conversion to AuAg alloy nanoparticles: Shore, M. S., Wang, J. W., Johnston-Peck, A. C., Oldenburg, A. L., & Tracy, J. B. (2011), Small (Weinheim An Der Bergstrasse, Germany), 7(2), 230–234.
Size-dependent nanoscale Kirkendall effect during the oxidation of nickel nanoparticles: Railsback, J. G., Johnston-Peck, A. C., Wang, J. W., & Tracy, J. B. (2010), ACS Nano, 4(4), 1913–1920.
Nickel phosphide nanoparticles with hollow, solid, and amorphous structures: Wang, J. W., Johnston-Peck, A. C., & Tracy, J. B. (2009), Chemistry of Materials, 21(19), 4462–4467. https://doi.org/10.1021/cm901073k
Synthesis and structural and magnetic characterization of Ni(Core)/NiO(Shell) nanoparticles: Johnston-Peck, A. C., Wang, J. W., & Tracy, J. B. (2009), ACS Nano, 3(5), 1077–1084. https://doi.org/10.1021/nn900019x

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Materials Science and Engineering