Four award-winning nanotech, clean-energy experts join new tech startup

SKOKIE, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--#catalysis--Stoicheia, a new technology startup that uses a nanotechnology-based approach to ultrahigh throughput materials discovery, today announced the first four members of its scientific advisory board.

Bringing expertise in nanotechnology, materials science and clean energy, Richard Crooks, Vinayak Dravid, Edward Sargent and Peidong Yang joined the Stoicheia team, effective February 17.

With the ability to perform millions of experiments simultaneously, Stoicheia’s technology can rapidly identify new materials with ideal properties for numerous applications, including for the energy, transportation, petrochemical and pharmaceutical industries.

Stoicheia launched in January 2021, after closing a $5 million venture-backed seed financing round.

“After we launched Stoicheia, we hit the ground running,” said Stoicheia co-founder Chad A. Mirkin. “Each member of our advisory board offers a deep expertise and passion for finding new materials to solve pressing global issues, such as sustainability, climate change and incurable disease. This board will ensure that Stoicheia continues the momentum that we have already built.”

As one of the foremost experts in electrochemistry, nanocatalysis, and nanoparticle synthesis, Crooks is the Robert A. Welch Chair in Materials Chemistry at the University of Texas-Austin. His research group develops basic science and technologies for a cleaner planet. He has received multiple awards, including the Faraday Medal of the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Carl Wagner Memorial Award of the Electrochemical Society.

Dravid is the Abraham Harris Chaired Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Northwestern University and founding director of the Northwestern University Atomic and Nanoscale Characterization Center. He also leads the SHyNE Resource, an NSF center of excellence in infrastructure and facilities in the Midwest. A world-class electron microscopist, Dravid has developed a wide range of materials important in solving environmental problems, including reusable, highly porous sponge/membrane-based technologies that can selectively remove oil and other pollutants from water for environmental cleanup.

An expert in renewable energy and catalysis, Sargent is the Canada Research Chair in Nanotechnology at the University of Toronto, where he leads research into advanced materials, such as quantum dots, perovskite crystals and multi-metal crystals. His research group has set world records for using quantum dots to harvest solar energy. Sargent cofounded four startup companies, including CERT Technologies, which won the Breakthrough Energy Solutions Canada competition in 2020.

Yang, the S.K. and Angela Chan Distinguished Professor of Energy at the University of California, Berkeley, is a world-renowned expert in nanoparticle catalysis and renewable energy research. His research focuses on developing new classes of materials and nanostructures. Yang, a MacArthur Fellow, received the Global Energy Prize in 2020 for inventing a biohybrid system for artificial photosynthesis and was named among the top 10 chemists of the decade (2000-10) by Thomson Reuters.

Andrew Mirkin at 805-705-2444 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.