NIRT: Nanostructural Engineering of Complex Functional Particles

新墨西哥大学的纳米尺度跨学科研究小组（NIRT）项目为期四年，由Timothy Ward教授担任首席研究员，将研究空间工程多孔复合纳米颗粒的结构和组成的潜力，这些结构和组成具有以前未实现的功能。该研究将集中在其基本支架是由两亲分子和亲水前体自组装而产生的精确组织的无机（氧化物）纳米结构的粒子上。二氧化硅/表面活性剂自组装的合成将依赖于在蒸发液滴的密闭环境中进行的蒸发诱导自组装（EISA），而不是在散装溶液中进行的成核自组装。使用EISA技术，将研究四种一般类型的粒子结构，其中一些包含位于粒子内部或表面的功能组件。由此产生的功能化纳米颗粒和复合材料可以为传感或治疗剂提供一个储存库，这些药物的作用或递送与颗粒表面的分子识别功能耦合，并通过纳米孔通道的受控转移介导。

This four-year Nanoscale Interdisciplinary Research Team (NIRT) project at the University of New Mexico, with Professor Timothy Ward as principal investigator, will investigate the potential to spatially engineer the structure and composition of porous composite nanoparticles with functionalities not previously achieved. The research will focus on particles whose basic scaffolding is a precisely organized inorganic (oxide) nanostructure created by self-assembly of amphiphilic molecules and hydrophilic precursors. The synthesis of silica/surfactant self-assembly will rely on evaporation-induced self-assembly (EISA) within confined environment of an evaporating droplet as opposed to nucleated self-assembly conducted in bulk solution. Using the EISA technique, four general classes of particle architecture, some containing functional components positioned within or at the surfaces of particles, will be investigated. The resultant functionalized nanoparticles and composites could provide a reservoir for sensing or therapeutic agents whose action or delivery is coupled to molecular recognition functionality at the particle surface and is mediated by controlled transfer through nanoporous channels.