Photochromic Switching for Nanostructured Polymer Gels

控制材料的形状和排列，使其尺寸约为人类头发厚度的千分之一，是先进制造业中非常受欢迎的能力。唯一能够控制这些纳米材料的形状和排列的商业仪器既昂贵（约5000万美元），又由于它们需要在平坦表面上使用而速度非常慢。一种不受这些严格限制的潜在变革性替代方法受到缺乏对材料合成中所涉及的化学的理解的阻碍。通过研究和控制相关化学反应发生的速度，针对这些合成方面知识的缺乏。此外，该项目教育参与研究生和本科生在国家的最先进的化学技术。K-8学生受到启发，考虑在科学和工程的职业生涯，同时与他们的家人在研究为主题的工作。该项目的中心目标是对基本化学动力学有一个基本的了解，以便能够实现分辨率超过衍射屏障的三维干涉光刻。关键的要求是一个可逆的和饱和的反应伴随着材料的写作步骤。通过操纵单体上取代基的空间和电子性质，并调整其它关键活性组分（例如，聚合物和交联剂）。本研究的目标包括合成一个组合库的单体衍生物与系统不同的空间和电子性能;纳米尺寸的材料生长的动力学的量化，以获得快速和饱和的平衡在低激光强度下的目标;和聚合的衍射无限的功能在大面积。

Controlling the shape and arrangement of materials at sizes roughly a thousandth of the thickness of a human hair is a much sought after capability in advanced manufacturing. The only commercial instrument capable of controlling the shape and arrangement of these nanometer-sized materials is both expensive (~$50 million) and prohibitively slow due to their requirement for use on flat surfaces. A potentially transformative alternate method that is not subject to these severe constraints is hampered by a lack of understanding of the chemistry involved in the synthesis of the materials. The paucity of knowledge on these syntheses is targeted by studying and controlling the speeds at which the relevant chemical reactions occur. Additionally, this project educates participating graduate and undergraduate students in state of the art chemistry techniques. K-8 students are inspired to consider careers in science and engineering while working with their families on research-themed. household material-based activities that are available through a widely accessible online portal.The central aim of this project is to develop a fundamental understanding of the underlying chemical kinetics needed to enable 3-dimensional interference lithography with a resolution beyond the diffraction barrier. The key requirement is a reversible and saturable reaction accompanied by a material-writing step. Reaction rates are controlled by manipulating the steric and electronic nature of substituents on the monomer, and tailoring the chemical structures of the other key active components (e.g., polymers and crosslinking agents). The objectives of this research include the synthesis of a combinatorial library of monomer derivatives with systematically varied steric and electronic properties; quantification of the kinetics of nanometer-sized material growth, with the goal of obtaining rapid and saturable equilibrium under low laser intensities; and polymerization of diffraction unlimited features over large areas.