CAREER: Surface Chemistry-Controlled Formation of Colloidal Nanoparticle Alloys

化学系的大分子、超分子和纳米化学（MSN）项目将支持匹兹堡大学Jill Millstone教授的CAREER研究和教育项目。Millstone教授和她的学生将开发表面化学驱动的方法来制备广泛的过渡金属和贵金属纳米颗粒合金。这些合金表现出独特的光学、磁性和催化行为，使其在近红外（NIR）成像和多相催化等技术中具有吸引力。Millstone教授和她的学生将研究粒子-配体相互作用、分子间配体力和溶剂-配体化学的影响，以调整整个纳米粒子的原子组成和原子分布。配体物种的作用将通过结合标准的纳米粒子分析技术（如电子显微镜）和经典的分子表征方法（如核磁共振波谱）来跟踪，核磁共振波谱允许人们同时获得关于纳米粒子表面和配体环境的详细信息。该研究的成功完成将引入一个合成框架，连接合金形成的分子和体积描述，并为以前无法获得的均质合金纳米结构提供一个简单、可持续的途径。这些定义良好的架构为从化石燃料转换到癌症检测等应用提供了有前途的平台。米尔斯通教授的职业教育计划侧重于开发一个致力于纳米化学的维基百科式网站。这个网站将作为一个“活的”资源，为广大的学生和教师社区谁是有兴趣的学习，教学，或执行纳米材料合成，但谁是有限的获得必要的专业知识，开始他们的参与生产。

The Macromolecular, Supramolecular, and Nanochemistry (MSN) program of the Division of Chemistry will support the CAREER research and education program of Prof. Jill Millstone at the University of Pittsburgh. Prof. Millstone and her students will develop surface-chemistry driven methods for preparing a broad range of transition and noble metal nanoparticle alloys. These alloys exhibit unique optical, magnetic, and catalytic behaviors that make them attractive for technologies ranging from near-infrared (NIR) imaging to heterogeneous catalysis. Prof. Millstone and her students will investigate the impact of particle-ligand interactions, intermolecular ligand forces, and solvent-ligand chemistry to tune both the atomic composition and atom distribution throughout the nanoparticle. The role of ligand species will be tracked by combining standard nanoparticle analysis techniques such as electron microscopy with classic molecular characterization approaches such as nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR), where NMR allows one to simultaneously acquire detailed information about both nanoparticle surface and ligand environments. Successful completion of the proposed study will introduce a synthetic framework that bridges molecular and bulk descriptions of alloy formation and provides a straightforward, sustainable route to a previously inaccessible class of homogeneous-alloy nanostructures. These well-defined architectures then provide promising platforms for applications ranging from fossil fuel conversion to cancer detection. The CAREER educational plans of Prof. Millstone focus on the development of a Wikipedia-style website devoted to nanochemistry. This website will act as a "living" resource for a broad community of students and faculty who are interested in learning, teaching, or performing nanomaterial synthesis but who have limited access to the expertise necessary to begin their involvement productively.