I watched the best movie ever, Secret Mall Apartment

I’ve lived in Providence, Rhode Island—the town where Brown University is—for about ten years now. There’s a fairly ordinary shopping mall here, the Providence Place Mall. This film is a documentary about how eight friends discovered a hidden gap inside the mall building and actually built a secret base there, where they lived for four years. Yes, really. It actually happened. And their secret base wasn’t just some makeshift hideout—it had a sofa, beds, furniture, electricity, etc. Since all eight were artistically inclined, the place was unnecessarily stylish, and organized. 

To cut to the chase: it was an absolutely fantastic film. Honestly, it became one of the most important films in my life. On a personal level, it was surreal to see my everyday town—Providence—portrayed so vividly. Sure, the city has plenty of issues, but the film captured the pulse of young people living and creating here, sealed tight like a vacuum-pack of life. Every street corner shown—the hospital, the Salvation Army, of course the mall—synced with my own memories. And yet, at the same time, I could see all these parallel stories that never intersected with mine but are just as much a part of this city. It made me feel that life is wonderful living in Providence and I am a member of the scene!

As a movie, the pacing was excellent—easy to follow, the story expanded naturally, and it was thrilling (well, of course, since they were secretly living inside a mall). You keep thinking, “This can’t possibly be real!” but it is. It’s one of those films I’d recommend to anyone.

The central figure—the leader of the eight—is a wildly charismatic guy. He’s quirky to say at least, sure, but extremely likable, social, and genuine. Yes, he is so real no fake. He lives by his own philosophy that art should open up new perspectives and provoke thought. You can feel the authenticity radiating from him. He made me see life from angles I had never considered before.

Then, after 90 minutes, the movie ended. I thought, “This was incredible. I have to watch the credits all the way through.” But then, to my utter shock, the actual main guy from the story appeared in the theater for a live Q&A. Can you believe that? I hadn’t been to a movie theater in a couple of years, and the first one I go back to is a jackpot experience like this. I must have some kind of luck. It made me want to keep pushing forward in life.

Here are some of the fun tidbits I learned during the Q&A (just for the record):

Q1: Why did you have so much footage in the first place?
A1: At the time, I was already doing another long-term art project in New York, which was highly improvisational. I spent about five years documenting everything, so filming constantly became second nature. When I handed all that material to Jesse (producer Jesse Eisenberg), he thought it was a goldmine for a film.

Q2: How did the other members feel about making this movie?
A2: To move forward, we needed everyone’s consent. At first, there was some resistance and tension, but the film team did a great job of persuading people.

Q3: In the film, it looked like you and your girlfriend at the time disagreed about the project’s direction. What happened afterward?
A3: With big projects like this, it’s natural for people to lose faith halfway through. But overall, the group stayed close. We worked on other projects together too.

Q4: What do you think of Providence today?
A4: I recently saw news saying Providence has some of the fastest-rising real estate values in the country. While that benefits some, it also makes life harder for those starting out with fewer resources. That bothers me.

Q5: Do you have Instagram?
A5: Yes! I’m really into it. My current goal is to reach 10,000 followers. Please check it out: @tapeart

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Later, my lovely wife went to see the film as well and heard a different set of Q&A answers:

Q6: What was your intended “end point” for the apartment project?
A6: The plan was to fix up the sewage and flooring and then see if we could live there for a full year without ever leaving—working, earning money, everything. If we managed that, I’d call it a success and completed! (laughs)

Q7: How did you make that sewer art project shown in the film?
A7: I literally moved all my home furniture down there. My actual house was left with just a laptop. Then, for about six months, I barely spoke to anyone while completing the project

I am excited for nanocrystal plasmonics

 Lately, my personal research obsession has been all about plasmons. Part of it is because I have a paper coming out soon on this very topic, but beyond that, I strongly believe plasmonics is a field worth pursuing—both in terms of current trends and in terms of the deeper academic trajectory. And among plasmonic systems, nanocrystals in particular are poised to take center stage, which honestly makes me quietly thrilled.

Plasmons are the phenomena that emerge when metals like silver or gold are reduced to the nanoscale, where light couples strongly with the collective motion of electrons. It’s one of those classic introductions in nanoscience: when you shrink gold to the nanoscale, it turns a wine-red color; silver turns orange. This has been studied for decades, but what excites me now is the next level—when plasmonic nanoparticles come close to one another and begin to interact. They can form new hybrid bands and exhibit bizarre, collective interactions. This is often described as deep strong coupling, a regime where the boundary between light and matter effectively disappears. Such states are even being explored as potential platforms for future quantum computing.

Nanocrystals are particularly powerful for accessing this regime, and plasmons have the unique advantage of operating even at room temperature, unlike many other quantum materials. The specific mechanisms for quantum computing applications are still developing, but for now it’s enough to recognize how radically forward-looking this field is.

For someone like me, with a background in self-assembly, this feels like a genuine turning point: a case where the beautiful but often “aesthetic-only” nanocrystal superstructures might actually become socially and technologically transformative. It’s the kind of breakthrough point I’ve been waiting for. The prospect that carefully organized nanocrystal architectures could not only look elegant but also enable real functionality is deeply exciting.

So from here on, I plan to engage much more actively with plasmon- and nanocrystal-related research. I see it as one of the most promising frontiers—and perhaps even a business opportunity. If anyone out there is interested in joining forces, I would love to connect.

I am back here as a blogger yo

 I’ve always had this embarrassing habit of writing things and putting them online, only to get bored, abandon it, and repeat the cycle. It’s been ages since the last time I actively published any posts. During that time, the idea of coming back to writing kept popping up in my head, but every time I thought about it, I’d convince myself I’d run out of time, get tired of it, or just use daily busyness like picking up my son at daycare and watching Dr Stone as an excuse not to do it. Kind of like those YouTube ads that say, “Procrastination isn’t your fault.”

And yet, here I am again, as if I weren’t afraid of repeating the same mistakes as before. Hooray. My chemistry hero George whitesides had a quote saying like that a repeating same mistake is insane. I have to try let George down. Hooray.

I think the problem with putting your writing out there in public is that it inevitably comes across as some form of cringe-worthy narcissism. Like, “Hey, listen to my unique thoughts,” or “Here’s a slice of my life.” It’s a bit like a Yngwie Malmsteen guitar solo. Not that it’s intentional—it just sneaks in unconsciously. Readers may not actually perceive it that way, but the disconnect makes me lose steam and quit. Or I quit because it feels inconsistent with my own sense of integrity.

But time has passed. When I’m older then I am wiser now, more grounded, and hopefully past making such naive mistakes. Maybe. At least that’s what I tell myself as I sit down to write again.

I’m a researcher in chemistry. I’ve been in the U.S. ever since my PhD, though I did all my schooling through my master’s in Japan. Now I’m working as something like a senior researcher at a U.S. university, focusing only on research. Here, I want to write about research, nanocrystals, life in America, technology, investing, U.S. politics—things that are tough but also fun in their own way.

Synthesis tips101. Make your condition inert!

water and oxygen. oh, water and oxygen...

Water and oxygen. These are the two most necessary molecules to human beings. For those who synthesize nanocrystals in oils, like me, or like you, water and oxygen could be detrimental.

When you talk about synthetic skills, the dewater and drying process are the most important skills. Some reactions that go well under a pure inert condition would produce just a piece of junk under a small amount of oxygen or water. By just knowing little tips to make your reaction conditions better, you will be recognized as a chemist with an excellent synthetic skill!

Synthesis! That is what I am talking about here!

Here, I listed several techniques that have been useful to me when synthesizing inorganic nanomaterials.

(1) Adaptor with a stopcock 

I am always surprised that adaptors with a stopcock are so less known.  People should use a stopcock adaptor!
You can buy it in here

For example, when you want to use your dried solution for the next week and you do not want to keep it with the Schlenk line for a long time, this works better.  Even normal molecules like oleic acid or oleylamine, I dry under vacuum and use it for later when necessary.  

(2) Glove box

The glove box is the must when you handle very oxygen- or water-sensitive chemicals.

(3) freeze-pump-thaw

The freeze-pump-thaw is good when you wanna dry low boiling point solvent! This is a nice SOP. https://depts.washington.edu/eooptic/linkfiles/Freeze_Pump_Thaw.pdf

Or if you like a video here is an excellent YouTube video

There are more techniques, such as molecular sieves, distillation, and recrystallization of chemicals. I hope this post would be a good starting point for your explore for further reaction tips!

Good luck with a pure reaction!

XRD for nanocrystals

Cool XRD instrument

Humans can perceive 400–700 nm electromagnetic waves. We call it “see.” Although humans cannot see the circulation of light, some insects can see the polarity of light. I am wondering who is the sexiest person if we could see the circulation of light, or if we have different ranges of wavelengths. Probably the sexiest person in human society might not be so sexy in a world where the circulation of light can be seen. The perspective of our lives will be literally changed.

If we could see X-ray, we may not have to use X-ray scanning at hospitals. Although we cannot see X-rays with our eyes, we can detect them using a detector to see the molecular structures and nanostructures. The physics behind X-ray techniques are surprisingly easy compared with its benefits.

Although I cannot lecture how it works in this blog post, I listed famous things that you need to master and the important papers that you want to read if you study the nanochemistry field.

10 Important Concepts to Know

Bragg equation, Scherrer equation, 2theta-theta, instrumental factors, basics of powder XRD, crystallography, right-hand rules, space group selection rules, diffraction intensity, atomic scattering factor:

Five Selected Papers

1)             Forster S. et al. J. Phys. Chem. B 2005, 109, 1347-1360


2)             Brown, P. J. et al. International Table of Crystallography 2006. 6.1 Intensity of DiffractedIntensity Form factor, structural factor, GISAXS, single crystallography

3)             Jones, M. R.; C. Mirkin., et al. Nature Materials 9, 913–917 (2010).

4)             Förster, S. et al. Nature Materials 6, 888 – 893 (2007).

5)             Cameron F. Holder and Raymond E. Schaak. ACS Nano 20191377359-7365

Good luck on your better perspective of your materials!