Kotov grew up in the Soviet Union, under immense social pressure to be like everyone else. He stutters, and as a child and teen that was a constant reminder of his nonconformity. It took him a long time to realize being different didn’t mean having to automatically expect less from life.
“I was not part of the herd,” he said. “Only much later did I realize how useful that actually was.”
Kotov’s nanoscale adventures began when he was an undergraduate studying photosynthesis in plants. The photosynthetic center – the place where energy conversion happens in plants – is a nanoscale feature. Around the same time, researchers were discovering how to make semiconductors out of inorganic and metallic particles. Kotov used those new tools and techniques to replicate the intricate photosynthetic centers he was seeing and uncovered a whole new world of structures to work with.
He’s particularly intrigued by the way nanoparticles self-assemble, a seemingly biological process that can happen with inorganic materials at the nanoscale. Teasing out parallels with biological phenomena, he believes, is the key to unlocking major advances in energy and engineering.
“I believe that we’ve just scratched the surface of nanoscience,” Kotov said. “There are some profound discoveries hidden here.”