Materials World Network: Nanostructured Materials from Nanoparticle and Block Copolymer Assemblies for Nanophotonics and Optoelectronics

材料世界网络奖支持美国康奈尔大学、英国帝国理工学院和英国牛津大学的一个国际研究团队，研究具有明确几何形状和连接性的新型金属基纳米结构颗粒和复合材料的合成和表征。这种材料是由核壳结构的含金属纳米颗粒(NPs)以及以金属NPs和嵌段共聚物(BCS)为结构导向剂的纳米复合材料组成的模块自下而上的方法获得的。该计划的目的是了解基本的化学、热力学和动力学形成原理，使一般和相对廉价的湿化学方法能够有效地创造具有新颖光学特性的多尺度功能金属材料，通过对基础结构进行纳米尺度的大尺寸控制，可能使纳米光子学/等离子体/超材料领域发生革命性变化。拟议的研究包括合成所有必要的有机/聚合物和无机成分，使用各种散射、光学和电子显微镜技术表征组装结构，以及深入研究它们的光学性质，包括模拟和建模工作，并致力于主要的新光学形式，如亚波长成像、用于传感的宏观尺寸的高灵敏度热点阵列和亚波长波导。虽然这项工作的主要重点是非磁性材料和所制备化合物的线性光学性质的评估，但研究的一个关键点是找到可以在更广泛的材料系统中推广的合成方法。该计划的最后一个重点是解决一个特别有针对性的开发领域，将特定的等离子体结构集成到混合太阳能电池中，并表征和优化等离子体增强的电荷光生发电和随后的太阳能电池效率。理解成功地将纳米材料科学与光子学/等离子体激元相结合以控制深亚波体积中的电磁波的基本原理将在广泛的领域产生深远的影响。如果成功，该项目将为下一代纳米结构材料在纳米导波、单分子传感和发电(光伏)等应用中提供先进的分子设计概念。此外，发现软物质、自下而上的方法来共同组装聚合物和陶瓷与金属可以实现将物质组织成具有以前不可用功能的结构的全新方法。团队成员资质精湛，汇聚了混合材料合成和表征、等离子体和光伏领域的独特专业知识。该研究项目借鉴了一些传统上相互独立的科学学科，将材料科学与光学/纳米光子学和光电子学相结合，从而为所有水平的学生提供了独特的教育体验。国际合作将通过一系列拟议的项目整合研究和教育，包括国际学生交流、发展网络基础设施、代表不足的群体的参与、加强研究和教育的基础设施以及产业拓展。

This Materials World Network award supports an international team of researchers at Cornell (US), Imperial College (UK) and Oxford University (UK) to investigate the synthesis and characterization of novel classes of metal-based nano-structured particles and composites with well-defined geometry and connectivity. The materials are obtained by a modular bottom-up approach of metal-containing nanoparticles (NPs) with core-shell architecture as well as nanocomposites from metal NPs and block copolymers (BCs) as structure-directed agents. The aim of the program is to understand the underlying fundamental chemical, thermodynamic and kinetic formation principles enabling general and relatively inexpensive wet-chemistry methodologies for the efficient creation of multiscale functional metal materials with novel optical property profiles that may revolutionize the field of nanophotonics/plasmonics/ metamaterials, enabled by nm-scale control over the underlying structure over large dimensions. The proposed research includes synthesis of all necessary organic/polymer and inorganic components, characterization of assembly structures using various scattering, optical and electron microscopy techniques, as well as thorough investigations of their optical properties including simulation and modeling efforts, and work towards major novel optics in the form of sub-wavelength imaging, highly sensitive hot-spot arrays over macroscopic dimensions for sensing, and sub-wavelength waveguiding. While the main focus of the work lies on non-magnetic materials and the assessment of linear optical properties of the fabricated compounds, a crucial point of the investigations is finding synthesis approaches that can be generalized over a wider class of materials systems. A final thrust of the program addresses a particularly topical exploitation area, integrating specific plasmonic structures into hybrid solar cells and characterizing and optimizing plasmon enhanced photogeneration of charges and subsequent solar cell efficiency. Understanding the fundamental principles for successfully combining nanomaterials science with photonics/plasmonics in order to exert control over electromagnetic waves in deep sub-wavelength volumes will have profound impact in a broad range of areas. If successful, the project will provide advanced molecular design concepts for the next generation nanostructured materials in applications such as nanowaveguiding, single-molecule sensing and power generation (photovoltaics). Furthermore, discovering soft-matter, bottom-up approaches to co-assemble polymers and ceramics with metals could enable completely novel ways to organize matter into structures with functionalities not previously available. Team members are well-qualified bringing together unique expertise in the areas of hybrid materials synthesis and characterization, plasmonics and photovoltaics. The research project draws on a number of traditionally separated scientific disciplines, combining materials science with optics/nanophotonics and optoelectronics, thus providing a unique educational experience for students of all levels. The international collaboration will integrate research and education through a suite of proposed programs including international student exchanges, development of cyberinfrastructure, the participation of underrepresented groups, enhancement of infrastructure for research and education, and industrial outreach.