CCI Phase I: NSF Center for Chemo-Mechanical Assembly

就像河流水流携带鹅卵石一样，水流也可以携带纳米颗粒和微胶囊等颗粒。虽然机械泵通常用于驱动流体流动，但化学“泵”也可以通过使用化学反应网络来产生化学浓度和流体密度的梯度来推动流体。美国国家科学基金会化学机械组装中心(CCMA)的研究人员正在创造新的变革性工具，以实现对受限环境中流体流动和颗粒组织的前所未有的控制。这些精确控制的流体流动使设计能够组织颗粒并能够执行复杂功能的自给式、自给自足的系统成为可能，例如自主的纳米颗粒系统，该系统检测化学源并共同向其输送响应化学物质，从而产生重要的分析或创建新结构。CCMA团队包括催化、合成化学、物理化学、流体流动和建模方面的专业知识。除了为化学界提供新的化学反应网络工具外，CCMA还通过培训学生进行多学科实验和建模技术，为科学和技术队伍的发展做出贡献。通过其行业附属计划，CCMA正在让行业参与学生培训和技术转让。在研究的同时，该团队正在发起一项积极的教育和公众推广计划。这包括为在研究型职业中代表性不足的群体扩大本科生和研究生的研究机会。该团队还参与了几个大规模的公共外联项目，包括公开讲座、设计亲身实践的旅行展品，以及与博物馆和科学中心合作。通过结合创新建模和实验研究的协作研究，NSF CCI第一阶段：化学机械组装中心(CCMA)正在利用催化化学反应引入时空化学梯度，以驱动周围流体的流动。这种流动反过来又允许操纵悬浮粒子的集体行为，以驱动动态自组织的新模式。该中心正在开发新的方法，以引起纳米和微米级材料的定向传输，控制密闭空间中的颗粒组织，并建立新的化学路线来调节溶液中颗粒形成的非平衡结构。这些研究正在为化学界提供根本性的新工具和知识，包括用于创建催化级联的新化学；确定化学反馈回路的设计规则；展示非平衡组装的新模式；以及朝着对这些系统出现的非线性行为和自动放大的新理解取得进展。潜在的应用包括创建独立的微流控设备，这些设备自动执行多阶段化学反应和便携式生物医学应用的分析；在恶劣环境中进行自动材料组装；以及能够自主运营的小型工厂，以制造用于精细仪器和机器人系统的微型组件，并同时筛选最佳反应参数，以产生具有特定属性的微型机器。为了激发人们对这一新兴化学领域的兴奋和公众欣赏，CCMA团队正在参与参与机构的几个大型公共外联项目，包括公开讲座、亲身实践的巡回展览以及博物馆和科学中心项目。

Much as a river current carries a pebble, fluid flows can carry particulates such as nanoparticles and microcapsules. While mechanical pumps are conventionally used to drive fluid flow, chemical "pumps" can also propel fluid by using chemical reaction networks to create gradients in chemical concentrations and fluid densities. Researchers in the NSF Center for Chemo-Mechanical Assembly (CCMA) are creating new transformative tools to enable unprecedented control over fluid flow and particle organization in confined environments. These precisely controlled fluid flows enable the design of self-powered, self-sustaining systems that organize particles and are capable of performing complex functions such as an autonomous nanoparticle system that detects a chemical source and collectively delivers a response chemical to it resulting in a vital analysis or creation of a novel structure. The CCMA team includes expertise in catalysis, synthetic chemistry, physical chemistry, fluid flow, and modeling. In addition to providing the chemistry community with new chemical reaction network tools, CCMA is also contributing to science and technology workforce development by training students in multidisciplinary experimental and modeling techniques. Through its industry affiliates program, CCMA is engaging industry in student training and technology transfer. Concurrent with the research, the team is launching a vigorous program of education and outreach to the public. This includes expanding undergraduate and graduate research opportunities for underrepresented groups in research-based careers. The team is also participating in several large-scale public outreach programs including public lectures, designing hands-on traveling exhibits, and teaming with museums and science centers. Through collaborative research that combines innovative modeling and experimental studies, the NSF CCI Phase I: Center for Chemo-Mechanical Assembly (CCMA) is harnessing catalytic chemical reactions to introduce spatiotemporal chemical gradients that drive the flow of a surrounding fluid. This flow, in turn, enables the manipulation of the collective behavior of suspended particles to drive new modes of dynamic self-organization. The Center is developing novel approaches to cause directed transport of nano- and micron-scale materials, control particle organization in confined chambers, and establish new chemical routes for regulating non-equilibrium structure formation from particles in solution. These studies are providing the chemistry community with fundamentally new tools and knowledge, including new chemistries for the creation of catalytic cascades; determination of design rules for chemical feedback loops; demonstration of new modes of out-of-equilibrium assembly; and progress toward new understanding of the nonlinear behavior and auto-amplification emerging from these systems. Potential applications include the creation of standalone microfluidic devices that autonomously perform multi-stage chemical reactions and assays for portable biomedical applications; automated materials assembly in harsh environments; and small-scale factories that can operate autonomously to build microscale components for use in fine instrumentation and robotic systems, and, in parallel, to screen for optimal reaction parameters yielding micro-machines with specified properties. To generate excitement and public appreciation about this emerging area of chemistry, the CCMA team is participating in several large-scale public outreach programs at the participating institutions, including public lectures, hands-on traveling exhibits, and museum and science center projects.