CAREER: Well-Defined Hybrid Materials as a Versatile Tool to Study Energy Transfer Processes

摘要21世纪人类面临的主要挑战之一是安全、可持续的能源供应，随着人口的增加，能源的消费量只会继续增长。该项目解决了工程和设计明确的混合材料，可以应用于有效的太阳能利用。通过自组装生产的金属有机晶体材料可以使我们达到这些目标，从而影响未来能源生产和储存的状态。该项目还整合了卡罗莱纳妇女科学（Wi-Sci）支持网络的发展，该网络解决了科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）方面的劳动力需求。拟议的Wi-Sci计划通过建立校际科学交流与合作，为不同研究小组的女科学家提供和促进多学科研究机会，以及组织以吸引和留住STEM学科女性为重点的教育研讨会，为STEM学科的女学生提供教育和研究机会。Wi-Sci计划的主要目标是在卡罗来纳州60多所高等教育机构中建立和发展一个支持网络，其中包括20所历史上的黑人学院和大学，因此，增加女性占据卡罗来纳州STEM学科至少50%的新职位的机会。技术摘要预先设计途径中的能量转移是一个广泛科学界感兴趣的新兴领域，也是开发下一代太阳能电池、光催化剂、传感器、发光二极管和开关所必需的。在材料研究部固态和材料化学项目以及化学部化学结构、动力学和机制B项目的支持下，该项目的主要目标是制备具有预先设计的能量传递途径的晶体混合材料，该途径可显著提高能源利用效率，从而彻底改变现有的能源和材料景观。利用所提出的材料进行能量转移研究的优点如下：(i)支架模块化，允许调整材料的光物理性质；（ii）结晶度，这为与非晶态聚合物相比的能量传递机制的系统研究提供了一个平台；（iii）孔隙度与结构模块化相结合，可以研究涉及有机连接剂、金属节点和客体分子的不同能量传递途径。此外，为材料合成提出的自组装方法允许复制在自然光系统中观察到的数百种发色团的分层组织。整合高中、本科生和研究生的教育和研究机会，特别强调STEM学科中的女性，也是该项目的重中之重。

Non-Technical AbstractOne of the main challenges facing humanity in the 21st century is the supply of secure and sustainable energy, of which consumption will only continue to grow as the human population increases. This project tackles the engineering and design of well-defined hybrid materials, which could be applied towards effective solar energy utilization. Metal-organic crystalline materials produced by self-assembly could enable us to reach these goals and, thereby, affect the state of future energy generation and storage. This project also integrates the development of the Carolinian Women in Science (Wi-Sci) Supportive Network, which addresses the workforce demand in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The proposed Wi-Sci initiative integrates educational and research opportunities for female students in STEM disciplines by establishing intercollegiate scientific exchanges and collaborations, providing and promoting multidisciplinary research opportunities for female scientists in different research groups, and organizing educational workshops focused on attraction and retention of women in the STEM disciplines. The major goal of the Wi-Sci initiative is to create and grow a network of support at more than 60 Carolinian institutions of higher education, including 20 historically black colleges and universities, and, therefore, increase opportunities for women to occupy at least 50% of the new positions projected for STEM disciplines in the Carolinas.Technical AbstractEnergy transfer in a predesigned pathway is an emerging field of interest for a broad scientific community and required for the development of the next generation of solar cells, photocatalysts, sensors, light-emitting diodes, and switches. With support from the Solid State and Materials Chemistry program in the Division of Materials Research and the Chemical Structure, Dynamics and Mechanisms B program in the Division of Chemistry, the major goal of this project is the preparation of crystalline hybrid materials with a predesigned pathway for energy transfer that significantly enhance energy utilization efficiency and, thereby, drastically modify the existing energy and material landscape. The advantages of utilizing the proposed materials for energy transfer studies are as follows: (i) scaffold modularity, which allows tuning of photophysical properties of the material; (ii) crystallinity, which provides a platform for systematic studies of energy transfer mechanisms compared to amorphous polymers; and (iii) porosity, in combination with structural modularity, which allows studying of different energy transfer pathways involving organic linkers, metal nodes, and guest molecules. Moreover, the self-assembly approach proposed for material synthesis allows replication of the hierarchical organization of hundreds of chromophores observed in the natural photosystem. Integration of educational and research opportunities for high-school, undergraduate, and graduate students, with a special emphasis on women in STEM disciplines, is also a top priority of this project.