CAREER:Atomic Structure and Growth of Helical Nanostructures Studied by Advanced Electron Microscopy

非技术总结：这个NSF职业计划包括一个研究和教育计划，使用成像和可视化作为工具来回答关键的科学问题，以及从事科学推广。该计划的研究部分使用电子显微镜来了解复杂的纳米结构如何形成。纳米材料的许多特性是由生长过程中出现的结构缺陷决定的，这些缺陷会影响材料的最终结构。例如，向直的银-金合金纳米线添加金属涂层可以使线转变为双螺旋形态。在这些纳米结构可以广泛用于技术应用之前，需要了解螺旋结构是如何产生的。使用先进的电子显微镜，这个计划将结合联合收割机非常详细和高分辨率的三维研究与高通量成像，以获得一个完整的图片，如何螺旋纳米线的生长和扭曲。这项研究将推进对决定如何化学合成复杂纳米结构以用于未来技术应用的过程的基本理解。该方案的教育部分旨在为严重缺医少药地区的高中生提供获得学术课外活动的机会。奥克兰和里士满许多地区的学生面临贫困、饥饿、暴力和种族歧视。社会和经济障碍往往使这些学生无法参加传统的暑期课外活动，这可能会加大这一群体的学业成绩差距。与当地高中教师合作，该计划将为这些和其他受不公平制度影响的学生开发和实施灵活和适应性强的暑期研究经验。该计划将使用成像和可视化作为工具来传达科学知识，并激发学生对科学事业的兴趣。它还旨在发展导师网络，以帮助学生实现他们在大学和就业市场的目标。技术摘要：该计划的研究部分将使用电子显微镜来确定核壳纳米线中手性的结构起源。纳米尺度的三维表征将被用来研究的纳米线的形态，因为它们从直的扭曲结构过渡期间，除了壳。通过改变壳层厚度和原子种类，将确定晶格失配在这些线中从直线到螺旋的结构转变中所发挥的作用。原子分辨率电子断层扫描将用于测量这些材料中缺陷的位置和应变分布，以确定这些结构特征与这些材料所采用的螺旋结构之间的关系。将开发一种使用机器学习方法的高通量电子显微镜工作流程，以测量许多直纳米线和扭曲纳米线群体的结构异质性。所研究的核-壳纳米线所展示的螺旋形态的发展的全面理解将与纳米线的整体形态的微观结构特征（缺陷、应变、晶界）的存在相关。这反过来又将使基于该系统的功能材料的合理设计，在光电，纳米机械，仿生或催化应用中的应用成为可能。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Non-technical Summary: This NSF CAREER program encompasses a research and educational plan that uses imaging and visualization as tools to answer key scientific questions as well as engage in scientific outreach. The research component of the program uses electron microscopy to understand how complex nanostructures form. Many properties of nanoscale materials are determined by structural imperfections that appear during the growth process and go on to affect the material's final structure. For example, adding a metallic coating to straight silver-gold alloy nanowires can cause the wires to transition to a double helix morphology. Before nanostructures such as these can be widely used in technological applications, there is a need to understand how the helical structure originates. Using advanced electron microscopy, this program will combine extremely detailed and high resolution studies in three-dimensions with high-throughput imaging to obtain a complete picture as to how the helical nanowires grow and twist. This research will advance the fundamental understanding of the processes that determine how complicated nanostructures can be chemically synthesized for future technological applications. The educational component of this program aims to provide access to academic extra-curriculars for high school students in severely underserved areas. Students in many areas in Oakland and Richmond face poverty, hunger, violence and racial discrimination. Social and economic hurdles often prohibit these students' participation in traditional summer extracurricular activities, which can increase the academic achievement gap in this population. Working with local high school teachers, this program will develop and implement a flexible and adaptable summer research experience for these and other students affected by inequitable systems. This program will use imaging and visualization as tools to convey scientific knowledge and excite the students about careers in science. It also aims to develop mentorship networks to help students attain their goals in the college and job market.Technical Summary: The research portion of this program will use electron microscopy to determine the structural origin of chirality in core-shell nanowires. Nanoscale three-dimensional characterization will be used to study the morphology of the nanowires as they transition from straight to twisted structures during addition of the shell. By varying the shell thickness and atomic species, the role that lattice mismatch plays in the structural transformation from straight to helical in these wires will be determined. Atomic resolution electron tomography will be used to measure the position of defects and the strain distribution in these materials to determine how these structural features are related to the helical structure that these materials adopt. A high-throughput electron microscopy workflow using a machine learning approach will be developed to measure structural heterogeneity in many populations of the straight and twisted nanowires. The comprehensive understanding of the development of the helical morphology demonstrated by the core-shell nanowires under study will relate the presence of microstructural features (defect, strain, grain boundaries) to the overall morphology of the nanowires. This in turn will enable the rational design of functional materials based on this system, application in optoelectronic, nanomechanical, biomimetic or catalytic applications.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.