University of Notre Dame
University of Chicago
Kenyon College
I received my B.A. in Chemistry from Kenyon College in 2004. After a brief foray into industry, I entered graduate school and earned a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Chicago. This work was performed under the guidance of Steven J. Sibener, and focused primarily on the use of helium atom scattering to characterize the structure and vibrational dynamics of thin organic films. I started as a Postdoctoral Research Associate with S. Alex Kandel at the University of Notre Dame in 2014, where I investigated the self-organization of small organic and organometallic molecules at the vacuum-solid interface using scanning tunneling microscopy. I joined Clarkson University as an Assistant Professor in 2018. My research group conducts research to identify the impact of chemical structure, growth environment, and molecule-substrate interactions on the formation of supramolecular structures at the vacuum-solid interface.
- Growth of two-dimensional materials on solid interfaces
- Growth of 2D materials in near-equilibrium and far-from-equilibrium conditions
- Characterization of heterogeneous surfaces through scanning probe microscopy
Current Research
My research group uses physical chemistry and surface science methodologies to study the spontaneous organization of molecules at the gas/solid and liquid/solid interfaces under non-equilibrium growth conditions. The goals of this research program is to discover the fundamental principles governing the self-organization of molecules at solid interfaces and to develop exploitable techniques for producing supramolecular structures that are not accessible through traditional self-assembly strategies.
R.D. Brown, S.A. Corcelli, S.A. Kandel, “Structural polymorphism as a result of kinetically-controlled self-assembly,” Accounts of Chemical Research, 2018, 51, 465-474. DOI: 10.1021/acs.accounts.7b00522 https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1021/acs.accounts.7b00522
A.M. Silski, R.D. Brown, J.P. Petersen, J.M. Coman, D.A. Turner, Z.M. Smithm , S.A. Corcelli, J.C. Poutsma, S.A. Kandel, “C-H···O hydrogen bonding in pentamers of isatin,” Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 2017, 121, 21520-21526. DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcc.7b07444 https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jpcc.7b07444
R.D. Brown, R.C. Quardokus, N.A. Wasio, J.P. Petersen, A.M. Silski, S.A. Corcelli, S.A. Kandel, “Non-intuitive clustering of 9,10-phenanthrenequinone on Au(111),” Beilstein Journal of Nanotechnology, 2017, 8, 1801-1807. DOI: 10.3762/bjnano.8.181 https://www.beilstein-journals.org/bjnano/content/pdf/2190-4286-8-181.pdf
R.D. Brown, J.M. Coman, J.A. Christie, R.P. Forrest, C.S. Lent, S.A. Corcelli, K.W. Henderson, S.A. Kandel, “Evolution of metastable clusters into ordered structures for 1,1’-ferrocenedicarboxylic acid on the Au(111) surface,” Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 2017, 121, 6191-6198. DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcc.7b00996 https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1021/acs.jpcc.7b00996
J.A. Christie, R.P. Forrest, S.A. Corcelli, N.A. Wasio, R.C. Quardokus, R.D. Brown, S.A. Kandel, Y.H. Lu, C.S. Lent, K.W. Henderson, “Synthesis of a neutral mixed-valence diferrocenyl carborane for molecular quantum-dot cellular automata applications,” Angewandte Chemie – International Edition, 2015, 54, 15448-15451. DOI: 10.1002/anie.201507688 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/anie.201507688
N.A. Wasio, R.C. Quardokus, R.D. Brown, R.P. Forrest, C.S. Lent, S.A. Corcelli, J.A. Christie, K.W. Henderson, S.A. Kandel, “Cyclic hydrogen bonding in indole carboxylic acid clusters,” Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 2015, 119, 21011-21017. DOI: 10.1021/acs/jpcc.5b06634 https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1021/acs.jpcc.5b06634
R.C. Quardokus, N.A. Wasio, R.D. Brown, J.A. Christie, K.W. Henderson, R.P. Forrest, C.S. Lent, S.A. Corcelli, S.A. Kandel, “Hydrogen-bonded clusters of 1,1’-ferrocenedicarboxylic acid on Au(111) are initially formed in solution,” Journal of Chemical Physics, 2015, 142, 101927. DOI: 10.1063/1.4909517 https://aip.scitation.org/doi/pdf/10.1063/1.4909517
R.D. Brown, Z.M. Hund, D. Campi, L.E. O’Leary, N.S. Lewis, M. Bernasconi, G. Benedek, S.J. Sibener, “The interaction of organic adsorbate vibrations with substrate lattice waves in methyl-Si(111)-(1×1),” Journal of Chemical Physics, 2014, 141, 024702. DOI: 10.1063/1.4886810 https://aip.scitation.org/doi/pdf/10.1063/1.4886810
R.D. Brown, Z.M. Hund, D. Campi, L.E. O’Leary, N.S. Lewis, M. Bernasconi, G. Benedek, S.J. Sibener, “Hybridization of surface waves with organic adlayer librations: A helium atom scattering and density functional theory study of methyl-Si(111),” Physical Review Letters, 2013, 110, 156102. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.156102 https://journals.aps.org/prl/pdf/10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.156102
R.D. Brown, Q.Q. Tong, J.S. Becker, M.A. Freedman, N.A. Yufa, S.J. Sibener, “Dynamics of molecular and polymeric interfaces probed with atomic beam scattering and scanning probe imaging,” Faraday Discussions, 2012, 157, 307-323. DOI: 10.1039/c2fd20016c http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlepdf/2012/fd/c2fd20016c
J.S. Becker, R.D. Brown, D.R. Killelea, H.Q. Yuan, S.J. Sibener, “Comparative surface dynamics of amorphous and semicrystalline polymer films,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the U.S.A., 2011, 108, 977-982. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1008268107 http://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/108/3/977.full.pdf
J.S. Becker, R.D. Brown, E. Johansson, N.S. Lewis, S.J. Sibener, “Helium atom diffraction measurements of the surface structure and vibrational dynamics of CH3-Si(111) and CD3-Si(111) surfaces,” Journal of Chemical Physics, 2010, 133, 104705 https://aip.scitation.org/doi/pdf/10.1063/1.3483465