CAREER: Bottom-Up Approaches for Precisely Nanostructuring Hybrid Organic/Inorganic Multi-Component Composites

非技术总结该项目旨在建立一个一体化的教育和研究计划，利用借鉴自然的自下而上的自组装方法，在纳米尺度上构建精确可控的结构，并生产性能和稳定性增强的有机太阳能电池。基本了解控制特殊设计分子的自组装过程的分子相互作用和材料结构参数的复杂协同效应。将开发用于构建半导体聚合物和嵌段共聚物的新设计和合成方法，并将建立关于新制备材料的结构-性能关系的基本知识库。这些发现不仅将推动基础科学的发展，而且还可以扩展到用于有机电子应用的广泛的材料和分级纳米结构。参与这些项目的学生将获得跨学科的知识和技能，这将有利于他们未来的科学职业生涯。多年来，将开发和完善强调材料化学和能源研究的新课程。将建立一个推广计划，旨在吸引新墨西哥州的K-12学生，特别是拉美裔和美洲原住民，进入科学领域。这些历来任职人数不足的学生将通过一天的实地考察获得化学和材料科学方面的实践经验。总体而言，拟议的活动不仅将促进基础科学的发展，还将促进培养一批对社会未来产生积极影响的熟练科学家的使命。技术总结有机聚合物和有机/无机杂化材料的纳米结构以及在分子水平上控制混合物的形态已成为现代电子设备的先决条件。为了实现全方位的高性能，通常将多个有机和无机实体整合到一个设备中，每个实体都为特定的功能而设计。在这些多组分体系中，目前最先进的形态控制方法通常包括物理混合和通过热/溶剂退火法进行优化。然而，这种反复尝试的方法高度依赖于系统，缺乏分子水平上的可控性，通常只导致热力学亚稳态的形态。通过拟议的研究，将创建一个使用超分子化学的通用工具箱，能够通过多种正交非共价相互作用的合作精确地构建多组分有机/无机杂化材料的纳米结构。专门为聚合物太阳能电池应用设计的材料，包括具有不同带隙的有机/有机金属共轭嵌段共聚物、具有互补吸收轮廓的量子点和作为电子受体的富勒烯衍生物，将被用作评估假设和完善方法的主力和试验台。对这些相互作用的复杂合作效应和控制自组装过程的材料结构参数有一个基本的了解。将开发构建共轭聚合物和嵌段共聚物的新设计和合成方法，并将建立关于新制备材料的结构-性能关系的基本知识库。这些发现不仅将推动基础科学的发展，而且还可以扩展到用于有机电子应用的广泛的材料和分级纳米结构。

NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARYThis project is aimed at establishing an integrated education and research program that utilizes bottom-up self-assembly approaches borrowed from nature, to construct precisely controlled structures on the nanometer scale and produce organic solar cells with enhanced performance and stability. A basic understanding of the intricate cooperative effects of molecular interactions and material structural parameters that control the self-assembly processes of specially designed molecules will be aimed at. New designs and synthetic methodologies for constructing semiconducting polymers and block copolymers will be developed and a fundamental knowledge base on structure-property relationships of newly prepared materials will be established. These findings will not only advance basic sciences but can also be extended to a wide range of materials and hierarchical nanostructures for organic electronic applications. Students working on these projects will gain interdisciplinary knowledge and skills, which will benefit their future scientific careers. New courses emphasizing materials chemistry and energy research will be developed and refined over the years. An outreach program, designed to attract K-12 students in New Mexico, especially Hispanics and Native Americans, into sciences will be established. These historically underrepresented students will obtain hands-on experiences in chemistry and materials sciences by means of one-day field-trips to the UNM campus. Overall, the proposed activities will not only advance the basic sciences, but also foster the mission to train a diverse group of in skilled scientists who will make positive impacts on society's future.TECHNICAL SUMMARYNanostructuring organic polymers and organic/inorganic hybrid materials and control of blend morphologies at the molecular level have become the prerequisites for modern electronic devices. To achieve all-around high performance, multiple organic and inorganic entities, each designed for specific functions, are commonly incorporated into a single device. Current state-of-the-art approaches to morphology control in these multi-component systems typically involve physical blending and optimization via thermal/solvent annealing. Such trial-and-error approaches are, however, highly system dependent, lack controllability on the molecular level and generally lead to morphologies at only thermodynamically metastable states. Through the proposed research, a versatile toolbox employing supramolecular chemistry will be created that is capable of precisely nanostructuring multi-component organic/inorganic hybrid materials through cooperation of multiple orthogonal non-covalent interactions. Materials specifically designed for polymer solar cell applications, including organic/organometallic conjugated block copolymers possessing different bandgaps, quantum dots having complimentary absorption profiles and fullerene derivatives as electron acceptors, will be employed as the workhorses and test-beds for evaluating the hypothesis and refining the methodology. A basic understanding of the intricate cooperative effects of these interactions and the material structural parameters that control the self-assembly processes will be aimed at. New designs and synthetic methodologies for constructing conjugated polymers and block copolymers will be developed and a fundamental knowledge base on structure-property relationships of newly prepared materials will be established. These findings will not only advance basic science but also can be extended to a wide range of materials and hierarchical nanostructures for organic electronic applications.