SELF-ASSEMBLY OF ACTIVE NANOPARTICLES

非技术概述自然利用自组装来产生各种各样的功能结构。这一过程利用热运动来产生纳米结构，几乎不需要任何外部成本。不幸的是，必须依赖随机运动而不是刻意操作的缺点是，所有纳米组件都会不分青红皂白地找到彼此，而不一定匹配正确的合作伙伴。在过去的几年里，人们合成了一种新型的纳米颗粒。通过将分散在溶液中的化学燃料转化为一致的定向运动，这些颗粒有效地发挥了纳米火箭(自推进颗粒)的作用，并代表了细菌的合成类似物。利用理论和计算技术的结合，PI的团队将研究这一新的令人兴奋的特征(推进)如何不仅可以为创造具有特殊机械性能的新型功能材料提供一个通用平台，而且还可以通过有效降低其复杂性来极大地简化或偏向与自组装过程相关的动态格局。该奖项支持一系列推广活动，包括为触摸屏设备开发教育软件，对研究生和本科生进行理论和数值研究方面的培训，以及旨在扩大未被充分代表的群体在科学和工程领域的参与的其他教育活动。技术总结该奖项支持一个研究自动推进纳米颗粒如何自我组装的计算、理论和教育计划。在自我推进的粒子系统中出现的集体行为是相当独特的，这让人想起一些鸟类(成群)、昆虫(成群)和鱼类(成群)所表现出的美丽的相关运动。由活性成分形成的凝聚相的材料特性也令人兴奋，非常不同寻常，为下一代智能材料的发展带来了希望。这一提议有两个主要目标：(1)了解当不同程度的活动施加到纳米粒子上时，非活性系统(可用作固体热力学参考)中非常基本和成熟的现象是如何发生的；从而导致更好地理解在这些系统中观察到的现象学行为的核心--活性和热力之间的相互作用。(2)开发控制活性纳米组件如何自组装的策略，并将其随机的活性运动转换为它们形成的介观结构的相干运动，从而创建可以通过利用纳米级的化学燃料(或其他能源)来执行工作的活性聚集体。

Nontechnical SummaryNature uses self-assembly to generate a vast variety of functional structures. This process leverages thermal motion to generate nanostructures at practically no external cost. Unfortunately, the drawback of having to rely on random motion, as opposed to deliberate maneuvers, is that all nanocomponents will indiscriminately find each other without necessarily matching the correct partners. Over the last few years, a new kind of nanoparticle has been synthesized. By converting chemical fuel dispersed in solution into consistent, directed motion, these particles behave effectively as nano-rockets (self-propelled particles), and represent the synthetic analog of bacteria. Using a combination of theoretical and computational techniques, the PI's group will study how this new exciting feature (propulsion), not only could provide a general platform for creating novel functional materials with unusual mechanical properties, but also, how it could greatly simplify or bias the dynamical landscape associated with the self-assembly processes, by effectively reducing its complexity. This award supports a number of outreach initiatives, including the development of educational software for touch screen devices, training of graduate and undergraduate students in theoretical and numerical research, and other educational activities aimed at broadening participation of underrepresented groups in science and engineering.Technical SummaryThis award supports a computational, theoretical and educational program to study how self-propelled nanoparticles self-assemble. The collective behavior that emerges in systems of self-propelled particles is quite unique, and is reminiscent of the beautiful correlated motion exhibited by some birds (flocking), insects (swarming) and fish (schooling). The material properties of condensed phases formed by active components are also exciting and very unusual, holding promise for the development of the next generation of intelligent materials. This proposal has two main goals: (1) To understand how very basic and well-established phenomena in non-active systems (that can be used as a solid thermodynamic reference) carry over when different degrees of activity are imposed on the nanoparticles; thus leading the way to a better understanding of the interplay between active and thermal forces that is at the core of the phenomenological behavior observed in these systems. (2) To develop strategies to control how active nanocomponents self-assemble, and transform their random active motion into a coherent motion of the mesoscopic structures they form, thus creating active aggregates that can perform work by exploiting chemical fuel (or other sources of energy) at nanoscale.