SNM: Continuous, Large-Scale Nanocomposite Production Via Micellular Electrospray

这笔赠款提供资金，用于建立新的方法和设备，以增加产量生产用于生物医学应用的纳米复合材料，并直接转化为工业。这种新的合成方法将结合电喷雾和自组装，电喷雾是一种自上而下的连续喷涂过程，自组装是一种自发发生的过程。将检查三种设备配置，以优化颗粒形成速度(即动力学)与颗粒质量(即热力学)的比率。这一过程将与科学传播专家合作开发，以确保在开发过程中将适当的社会、伦理和环境健康和安全考虑因素纳入到过程设计中。这一过程的结果将在两个专注于生物医学成像和分离的工业试验台上进行评估。如果成功，这项研究将通过为纳米复合材料的形成提供连续制造策略来解决纳米复合材料商业化的关键障碍。由于电喷雾液滴的形态受到严格控制，这种方法应该能够实现更好的过程控制，并改善颗粒的均匀性、重复性和规模。本研究将研究三种具有很强商业化潜力的纳米复合材料：复合磁性纳米颗粒、复合量子点和磁性量子点，它们在生物医学成像、临床诊断和药物分离方面具有潜在的应用前景。然而，这种方法可以用来制造包含任何比纳米容器更小的疏水成分的复合材料，因此可能会影响到包括电子、光学和能源在内的各种领域。两个杰出的非营利性教育合作伙伴将广泛分享我们安全地将新纳米复合材料产品商业化的努力：屡获殊荣的教育网络游戏制作人Edhead，以及NSF纳米级非正式科学教育(NISE)网络的领导者波士顿科学博物馆。

This grant provides funding to establish new methods and equipment to produce nanocomposites for biomedical applications at increased volume for direct translation to industry. This new synthesis method will combine electrospray, a top-down, continuous spraying process, with self-assembly, a bottom-up process that occurs spontaneously. Three equipment configurations will be examined to optimize the ratio of particle formation speed (i.e., kinetics) to particle quality (i.e., thermodynamics). This process will be developed in collaboration with experts in science communication to ensure that appropriate societal, ethical, and environmental health and safety considerations are integrated into the process design as it is being developed. The results of this process will be evaluated in two industrial test-beds focusing on biomedical imaging and separations.If successful, this research will addresses critical roadblocks in nanocomposite commercialization by providing a continuous manufacturing strategy for nanocomposite formation. Because electrospray droplet morphology is tightly controlled, this method should enable greater process control and improved particle uniformity, reproducibility, and scale. This research will study three nanocomposites with strong commercialization potential: composite magnetic nanoparticles, composite quantum dots (QDs), and magnetic QDs, which have potential applications in biomedical imaging, clinical diagnostics, and pharmaceutical separations. However, this approach could be used to manufacture composites containing any hydrophobic components smaller than the nanocontainer, and could thus impact a diverse range of fields including electronics, optics, and energy. Broad sharing of our endeavor to safely commercialize new nanocomposite products will be undertaken by two outstanding non-profit educational partners: Edheads, award-winning education web game producers, and the Museum of Science, Boston, lead of the NSF Nanoscale Informal Science Education (NISE) Network.