NSF Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology

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The NSF Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology (CSN) seeks to understand how nanoparticles, particles that are at least 10,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair, transform and interact in and with water and biological systems. Nanoparticles can vary in elemental composition, structure, and properties, which makes them useful for industries ranging from electronics, to batteries, to cosmetics. As nanoparticle use becomes more widespread, however, they are appearing in the environment. When nanoparticles are incorporated into biological systems they may induce unusual behavior that is beneficial or harmful, but is as of yet poorly understood. For instance, due to their small size, some nanoparticles can easily pass through some cell membranes. With very high surface area to volume ratios, nanoparticles can also be highly reactive, which may trigger chemical changes in the environment or to the nanoparticle itself. The CSN applies a "make, measure, model" strategy to develop new functional nanomaterials with increased sustainability and reduced biological impact. Expertise with synthetic methods, in situ analytical techniques, and computational methods is leveraged to understand, predict, and control nanoparticle properties and their chemical interactions with the environment and biological systems. The CSN addresses key knowledge gaps in the areas of nanoparticle properties which will result in better prediction of specific nanoparticle chemical properties and their biological interactions. This will ultimately serve the national interest by allowing for the design of more effective and more benign nanoparticles for many applications. Some of the systems the CSN investigates include: transition metal oxides and phosphates and two-dimensional quantum materials; gold, diamond and silicon based nanoparticles with defined organic and inorganic surface coatings; and as well as emerging nanoparticle compositions that exhibit fundamental new science and utility, such as those based on polymeric carbon dots, and nanovacancies in nanodiamond. This integrated, multi-institutional, and collaborative team involves researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Minnesota, Boston University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Johns Hopkins University, Augsburg University, University of California-Riverside, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, University of Iowa, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Maryland Baltimore County, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and the Connecticut Agricultural Experimental Station. The Center has a strong innovation component that involves the translation of research results into intellectual property, as well as other collaborations with several industrial partners. The CSN has an inclusive and transparent management approach that enables a positive Center climate and facilitates the integration of student learning across Center activities. Students broaden and deepen their technical expertise and grant writing through student laboratory exchanges and seed grant opportunities. The CSN places special emphasis on communication training. Example mechanisms to develop student communication skills are the popular Sustainable Nano Blog, http://sustainable-nano.com/, and the Spanish language-based Nano Sostenible Blog, http://nano-sostenible.com/. These are key components of the Center's informal science communication efforts, and students have ample opportunity to participate in these educational websites. Webinars on fostering technical innovation, internship opportunities, and opportunities to serve on the advisory board are mechanisms through which students further develop their professional skill sets. The CSN is committed to broadening participation efforts and incorporates summer research experiences for undergraduates and veterans, and relationships with minority-serving institutions, primarily undergraduate institutions, and community colleges as ways to address inclusivity. The strong focus on the CSN climate helps to ensure all participants feel welcomed, valued, and supported. Partnerships with the University of Puerto Rico at Cayey and Rio Piedras, the University of Texas Rio Grand Valley, Tuskegee University, and Georgia State University help to ensure that a diverse group of students can participate in the CSN where they develop not only the skills mentioned above, but also an understanding of the need to approach questions in chemistry with an awareness of sustainability, inclusivity, and interdisciplinarity. The CSN experience will prepare participants to make unique future contributions as members of the chemical workforce. The CSN organizes their goals along four focus areas. One area focuses on establishing nanoparticle structure–function relationships. Chemical composition, size, shape, and organic or inorganic surface modifications are investigated with a combination of computational and experimental approaches. Transition metal oxides, nanoparticles comprised of earth-abundant elements, and nanoparticles that demonstrate novel properties or new utility are focal points. A second area of investigation centers on understanding nanoparticle transformations that occur in the environment and in biological media. Chemical changes in the nanoparticle core, the roles of inorganic and organic ions to impact nanoparticle stability, and surface structure are some of the areas explored. The third CSN thrust area explores nanoparticle coatings, referred to as coronas, formed by their exposure to the environment or biological systems at aqueous interfaces as a function of time. Analytical and computational approaches are developed to characterize and model the chemical nature and formation mechanisms of nanoparticle coronas. The fourth area is a chemistry-focused investigation of the physicochemical properties of nanoparticles and their interactions with biological systems. Nanoparticles with well-defined composition, structure, and surface chemistry are used to correlate, better understand, and predict nanoparticle physicochemical properties, spatial and temporal interactions at biological surfaces, and the direct or indirect effects on molecular interactions in cells and organisms. The CSN enriches the chemistry community by providing new tools for characterizing chemical processes at nanoparticle surfaces and by developing experimentally validated computational methods to predict the molecular-level behavior of complex materials in aqueous media. CSN participants are engaged in activities aimed at facilitating the creation and dissemination of knowledge, enhancing innovation and translation of research products and outcomes to the commercial sector, and providing unique education and training opportunities for students and postdoctoral researchers from diverse backgrounds.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.