Collaborative Research: Using molecular functionalization to tune nanoscale interfacial energy and momentum transport

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Engineering surfaces at the nanometer scale will play a crucial role in a wide range of future technologies, including water desalination/purification for drinking and agriculture, efficient heating/cooling, waste heat recovery, advanced energy generation and storage, as well as biomedical applications such as advanced diagnostics and therapeutics. The investigators seek demonstrate nanometer-scale and molecular-level tuning of material properties to create nano-engineered surfaces, or so-called “super-surfaces”. The project will also train diverse scientists and engineers through interdisciplinary science, technology, engineering, and math education. A pilot undergraduate nanoscience program will be created for undergraduates, including rural, first-generation, non-traditional, and Hispanic students. This will provide students, including underrepresented groups, an opportunity to research and network with faculty and students at a major research university. The goal of this project is to demonstrate a novel technique for molecular-level tuning of interfacial thermal conductance, surface charge, capillary properties, and biological interaction of solid-liquid interfaces using a model gold-alkanethiol-water system. By employing a highly synergistic, integrated experimental and theoretical approach (to design, synthesize, and then re-design microscale surfaces), the study will advance the fundamental understanding of mixed monolayer structure, dynamics, and interfacial interactions. These studies will extend to a systematic investigation of cooling rate and substrate curvature on functionalized thiol domain formation on both flat substrates and nanoparticles. By demonstrating a commercially scalable technique for tuning solid-liquid interfacial transport properties and biomolecular sensitivity of surfaces with nanometer precision, the project addresses significant applied research needs in the field. This work is anticipated to lead to the development of a new nanoscale manufacturing paradigm for the rational engineering of solid-fluid interfaces that can be applied to a broad range of functional molecules and substrates. Additionally, it will explore possible means to control interfacial transport and biological interactions with functionalized and nanostructured materials. Thus, these studies will provide considerable cross-cutting scientific and technological benefits, which will improve the overall quality of human life and health. Because the project will also establish a pilot collaborative nanoscience program including students from two primarily undergraduate institutions (Colorado Mesa University and Central Washington University), which serve large Hispanic, rural, first generation, and non-traditional student populations, with students and researchers at University of Notre Dame, this project will contribute to the diversity of the scientific workforce. Specifically, the integrated research and education design of the studies will aid in student engagement, retention, and success. Because of the COVID pandemic, the PIs at all three institutions are actively engaged in developing a plan for inter- and intra- institutional collaborative research during the pandemic, planning for increased laboratory safety and utilizing information technology solutions for communications to mitigate the disruptive effects of the pandemic on the project activities while assuring researcher safety. Lastly, through community outreach and education activities via Colorado Mesa University’s Eureka Science Museum and Maverick Innovation Center, the PIs will contribute to regional educational development and economic development through entrepreneurship.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.