A Material Guy
Dr. Taeghwan Hyeon, center, with Madhuri and Jagdish N. Sheth. Hyeon received the 2025 Sheth International Alumni Award for Exceptional Achievement. (Image by Quentin Misiag)
Taeghwan Hyeon, PHD ’96 LAS, has received the university’s 2025 Madhuri and Jagdish N. Sheth International Alumni Award for Exceptional Achievement.
As director of the Center for Nanoparticle Research in the Institute for Basic Science at Seoul (South Korea) National University (SNU), Dr. Hyeon leads efforts to develop uniformly sized nanoparticles. Measuring 1 to 100 nanometers in diameter, nanoparticles offer increased strength and durability, as well as improved electrical conductivity, over traditional materials. This makes them better suited for applications such as foldable-screen LED cell phones and the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine.
“I am basically a synthesis guy,” Hyeon says. “I like making new materials.” His mentor, U. of I. research professor of chemistry Kenneth S. Suslick calls Hyeon “truly one of the founding fathers of inorganic nanomaterials,” noting that he uses a generalized synthetic heat-up process to create uniform nanoparticles.
Hyeon’s nanoparticles have found their way into applications as diverse as fluorescent tattoos and a life-saving plastic mesh that encases the human heart during surgery.
During a recent talk at his Alma Mater, Hyeon described himself as a “dreamer” who seeks collaborators to help him answer the question, “What am I going to do with this?” He says, “I’m not an expert in cancer. I’m not an expert in MRI. But I can find colleagues who are. That’s how I started collaborations with professors in hospitals and in oncology medicine.”
Hyeon often finds his future collaborators on the tennis court. Because of Korea’s limited court availability, he plays a lot of doubles, which spurs his networking opportunities. “I play a lot at the SNU campus,” he says. “Who am I going to play with? Professors! After tennis, we go to a pub together, talk and then…we start collaborations!”
To hear Hyeon tell it, this approach sounds somewhat chummy. But the award-winning scientist who has published more than 350 papers with a remarkable 70,000 citations has strict standards. “My collaborators have to be the best,” he says. “When best meets best, the best of the best is produced.
