Manufacturing Heterogeneous Composite Nanostructures by Layer-by-Layer Deposition and Self-Assembly

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There is an increasing need for new manufacturing techniques that are capable of organizing nanoscale components. Such techniques would enable the manufacturing of next-generation materials and devices for a diverse range of applications, including energy, medicine, and telecommunication. For example, components can be organized into stacked or layered nano-scale architectures to create three-dimensional composite materials and structures. Nanoscale components can also undergo self-assembly, where they spontaneously organize into precise arrangements. This research will seek to combine these two nanomanufacturing techniques into an integrated fabrication process. The project will involve experiment and modeling to gain new insights into how such a process can be used to engineer and design nanostructured materials. The results of this work will be used in educational activities to show how basic science and engineering research can drive technological innovation. Nanomanufacturing concepts will be introduced to undergraduates, high school students, and K-12 educators through outreach activities that show how basic science and engineering research can drive technological innovation. These activities will be designed to engage underrepresented minorities and women in nanomanufacturing research. This research aims to combine the capabilities of both layer-by-layer deposition and self-assembly to fabricate stacked nanoparticle architectures with exquisite control over inter-planar as well as intra-planar organization. The underlying theme of this work is to rationally engineer the assembly of nanoparticles (NPs) in the presence of interfaces and to exploit the unique interactions between NPs both within and across layers, which will be achieved through a close-knit collaboration between experiment and modeling. Nanoparticle interactions will be controlled within each layer in a multilayered structure using orthogonal polymer processing to address specific layers within the stack. Inter-planar assembly will be controlled by designing long-range interactions that enable coupled, synergistic assembly between NPs in different layers of a stack.
Quantitative analyses of the assembly process will be carried out and an experiment-guided, predictive model of NP assembly will be developed. Computational modeling will also play an integral role in understanding particle interactions within and across layers, and will provide an opportunity to gain new, fundamental insights into how NPs assemble in quasi-3D geometries and the effect of interfaces on particle diffusion and localization. The results of this work will be used to develop a new fabrication toolbox for device-relevant stacked nanoparticle-polymer architectures.