INSPIRE Track 1: Exploring New Route of Optically Mediated Self-Assembly: Final Material Properties Determine Its Structures

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This INSPIRE award is partially funded by the Electronic and Photonic Materials Program and the Solid State and Materials Chemistry Program in the Division of Materials Research in the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences; and the Nanomanufacturing Program in the Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation in the Directorate for Engineering.Technical Description: Structure-property relationships have long driven the discovery of novel materials. Optical metamaterials, a composite through structural design to achieve unprecedented materials properties, e.g., negative index of refraction and cloaking, introduce a new dimension in materials science. Metamaterials research has conventionally taken a "structures-determine-properties" approach. Material properties using rationally designed symmetry-breaking structures that can be realized by top-down fabrication methods such as lithography result in strongly anisotropic but small-scale metamaterials. Conventional self-assembly approaches, which may offer advantages of scalability and cost effectiveness, often result in simple structures with high degree of symmetry because complex and symmetry-broken structures are usually not thermodynamically favorable. In this project, combining material chemistry with optical physics, the investigators aim to overcome aforementioned critical challenges by exploring a path-breaking new approach of "properties-determine-structures" for scalable synthesis of a new class of metamaterials with unique properties, or properties not found in nature. Through the study of the symmetry effects of nanocomposites and models of plasmon-mediated self-assemblies, the team is developing new feedback strategies for controlling self-assembly processes. Plasmon is collective oscillation of electrons on metal surfaces. Using such autonomous feedback mechanisms, the final material properties dictate the material structural evolution during self-assembly, thereby achieving the desired complex symmetry-breaking structures.Non-technical Description: This interdisciplinary project brings together researchers from optics and chemistry to develop a revolutionary self-assembly route to large-scale synthesis of materials with complex symmetries that go far beyond materials fabricated or synthesized through conventional techniques. Light itself is used to guide the assembly into the desired structures. The team integrates this research project with education activities. For instance, the nanochemistry, optical physics, fabrication, optical/chemical characterization, and computational techniques developed in this project provide a multidisciplinary setting for training students to be next generation of leaders in science and engineering. This collaborative project aims to reshape materials research in both optical physics and material chemistry with a profound impact on a broad range of applications in manufacturing, energy technology and health care.