Traveling through many orders of magnitude of spatial and temporal scales in chemistry is an enjoyment and a privilege. According to the nature of the systems studied, the research in our lab is divide d into "the big world" and "the small world".

The Big World of Interfaces

From the air-water interfaces of clouds and oceans, to the water-oil-water interfaces of biological membranes, our world is full of interfaces. Interfacial systems, such as amphiphilic lipids and proteins, as well as the structures they form, are usually big (from the point of view of chemistry). Thus we call our research of interfaces "the big world". Using physical chemistry tools, we study interface chemistry that could provide model systems to answer key questions in environmental chemistry and biophysical chemistry.

The Small World of Clusters

We study the chemistry and physics of "the small world" of clusters that are composed of less than 20 atoms. In "the small world", quantum mechanics dominates, time scale ranges from femtoseconds to seconds, spectroscopy is both the tool and the goal, high vacuum is needed, and research is highly instrument-oriented. "Small world" helps to understand the essence of matters.