MRI: Acquisition of a Powder ALD/CVD Reactor for Next Generation Nanomanufacturing

该重大研究仪器(MRI)奖支持收购一种能够在一系列材料上应用精确纳米级涂层的沸腾床气相沉积反应器。这种涂层可以改善各种技术部门的材料的加工和性能，如电子(使智能粉尘能够用于环境监测)、可再生能源和化学加工(大大减少碳排放)、添加剂制造(改进医疗植入物或航空航天部件)和制药(提高药物输送的有效性)。该仪器将使研究人员能够研究流态化处理的细节，并了解如何将其应用于新的应用。该反应堆将安装在佐治亚理工学院电子和纳米技术研究所的共享用户设施中，该研究所是NSF资助的国家纳米技术协调基础设施的一个节点，确保佐治亚理工学院、东南部地区和该国的用户可以使用。多项教育活动，包括将有关粉末加工的课程内容纳入现有课程，以及制作自导入门视频，将提高人们对该工具的认识和利用。虽然气相沉积方法在微电子中无处不在，但在其他大批量制造场合中很少使用。然而，沸腾床气相沉积反应器技术的发展正在改变现状，现在使将这种纳米材料涂层应用于以前的禁止材料(如粉末、纤维)在技术上和经济上都是可行的。该反应器的独特能力将有助于基础研究(I)自下而上制造微胶囊粉末中的电子器件过程中的热量和传质过程，(Ii)长度尺度和复杂胶体颗粒分散体光学现象中的有序/无序的影响，(Iii)用于添加剂制造的先进原料的流变性，以及如何利用反应物和孕育剂来创造具有优异性能的新材料，(Iv)按需可回收碳纤维复合材料中重量、强度和界面功能化之间的相互作用，以及(V)控制机械催化操作的机制，以实现工业加工中的新型全电动范例。对于这些和相关的使用案例，通过流态化进行粉末搅拌是确保均匀沉积的关键。体积小，可以处理稀缺的样品或原型材料。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) award supports the acquisition of a fluidized bed vapor deposition reactor capable of applying precise nanoscale coatings to a range of materials. Such coatings can improve the processing and performance of materials in technology sectors as diverse as electronics (enabling smart dust for environmental monitoring), renewable energy and chemical processing (greatly reducing carbon emissions), additive manufacturing (improving medical implants or aerospace components), and pharmaceuticals (increasing the effectiveness of drug delivery). The instrument will allow researchers to study the details of fluidized bed processing and understand how it can be applied to new applications. The reactor will be installed within the shared-user facility at Georgia Tech’s Institute for Electronic and Nanotechnology, a node of the NSF-funded National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure, ensuring accessibility to users at Georgia Tech, the southeast region, and the country. Multiple educational activities, including the integration of course content on powder processing into the existing curriculum as well as the creation self-guided primer videos, will increase awareness of and access to the tool. While vapor deposition methods are ubiquitous in microelectronics, they are rarely used in other high-volume manufacturing situations. However, the development of fluidized bed vapor deposition reactor technology is changing the status quo, now making it technically feasible and economically viable to apply such nanomaterial coatings to previous off-limits materials (e.g., powders, fibers). The unique capabilities of this reactor will permit fundamental investigations of the (i) heat and mass transfer during the bottom-up manufacturing of electronic devices in microcapsule powders, (ii) impact of length scale and order/disorder in the optical phenomena of dispersions of complex colloidal particles, (iii) rheology of advanced feedstock for additive manufacturing and how reactants and inoculants can be used to create new materials with superior properties, (iv) interplay between weight, strength, and interfacial functionalization in on-demand recyclable carbon fiber composites, and (v) mechanisms governing mechanocatalyst operation to enable new all-electric paradigms in industrial processing. For these and related use-cases, powder agitation – via fluidization – is essential to ensure uniform deposition. Small volumes enable work with scarce samples or prototype materials. Large volumes provide the quantity of material needed to fabricate and study macroscopic objects/devices/parts and to explore manufacturing scale-up.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.