CAREER: Leveraging Atomically-Precise Inorganic Clusters to Understand Nanoparticle Synthesis

在化学系大分子、超分子和纳米化学项目的支持下，莱斯大学的Matthew Jones博士将探索金属纳米颗粒形成的基本过程。这些结构大约比人类头发的宽度小一万倍，具有显著的光学和催化性能，可能会为未来的生物医学、能量存储和计算技术奠定基础。有了这笔资金，琼斯博士将通过用原子上定义明确的较小分子来“播种”金属纳米粒子的生长，从而扩大对金属纳米粒子形成的理解。与这些科学目标相结合的是一个教育推广计划，旨在通过与休斯顿一所专门为服务不足的移民和难民社区提供服务的当地高中合作，提高美国STEM劳动力的多样性。这所学校的科学教师将参加琼斯实验室资助的暑期研究实习，而这些教师教室里的学生将通过实验室练习和演示，由琼斯博士的纳米科学外展小组参与。通过创建一个项目，将代表不足的学生和教师的培训与莱斯大学的资源相结合，将产生一批多样化的、受过STEM教育的学生，他们可以满足21世纪的劳动力需求。琼斯研究小组将通过开发一个旨在表征发生在~1纳米尺度上的生长动力学的研究项目，来探索种子介导合成各向异性金纳米颗粒的潜在机制。这项工作试图揭示基于团簇的纳米颗粒生长机制，以帮助将纳米级合成发展成一门更具化学可预测性的科学。在目标1中，将合成和表征不同大小、对称性和配体组成的原子精确纳米团簇的库。在目标2中，将研究在不同化学环境中导致集群种群重新分布的集群间和集群内的增长、溶解和合并过程。最后，在目标3中，将仔细研究基于团簇的反应性在定义由这些前体生长的纳米颗粒的对称性和形态方面所起的作用，着眼于建立基于反应性和生长机制预测纳米颗粒结构的新方法。这一奖项反映了NSF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。

With the support of the Macromolecular, Supramolecular and Nanochemistry Program in the Division of Chemistry, Dr. Matthew Jones of Rice University will explore the fundamental processes underlying the formation of metallic nanoparticles. These structures, approximately ten thousand times smaller than the width of a human hair, exhibit remarkable optical and catalytic properties that may form the basis for future technologies in biomedicine, energy storage, and computing. With this funding, Dr. Jones will expand the understanding of metallic nanoparticle formation by “seeding” their growth with smaller molecules that are atomically well-defined. Coupled to these scientific goals is a program of educational outreach that aims to improve the diversity of the nation’s STEM workforce by partnering with a local high school in Houston that caters exclusively to underserved immigrant and refugee communities. Science teachers at this school will take part in a funded summer research internship in the Jones laboratory while the students in the classrooms of these teachers will be engaged by Dr. Jones’ nanoscience outreach group via laboratory exercises and demonstrations. By creating a program that integrates the training of underrepresented students and teachers with the resources of Rice University, a pipeline of diverse, STEM-educated students will be generated who can serve the workforce needs of the 21st century.The Jones research group will explore the mechanisms underlying the seed-mediated synthesis of anisotropic gold nanoparticles by developing a research program that aims to characterize growth dynamics occurring at the ~1 nm length scale. This work seeks to uncover cluster-based mechanisms for nanoparticle growth to help develop nanoscale synthesis into a more chemically-predictable science. In objective 1, a library of atomically-precise nanoclusters of differing size, symmetry, and ligand composition are to be synthesized and characterized. In objective 2, the inter- and intra-cluster growth, dissolution, and coalescence processes that result in a redistribution of the cluster population in different chemical environments will be studied. Finally, in objective 3, the role that cluster-based reactivity plays in defining the symmetry and morphology of nanoparticles grown from these precursors will be examined carefully with an eye toward establishing new approaches to predicting nanoparticle structure based upon reactivity and growth mechanism.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.