NSF-DFG Confine: Building functional supraparticles through directed assembly of nonspherical nanoparticles under confinement

从个人护理到药物输送，纳米颗粒几乎在我们经济的所有部门都有应用。它们的效用来自于访问新属性的能力，这些属性取决于它们的大小、形状和精确排列——称为自组装。纳米粒子在受限几何结构中的自组装有望制造出具有重要性能的功能材料和器件，否则这些材料和器件将无法获得。该奖项由美国印第安纳大学和德国Friedrich-Alexander-Universität erlangen - n<e:1> rnberg合作，通过在液滴和小通道内定向自组装，创造出由数万到数千个非球形纳米颗粒组成的定义明确的超粒子。该奖项将扩展设计超粒子的工具箱，并将通过结合现实的相互作用为未来纳米粒子组装的计算研究奠定基础。这个项目更广泛的影响是强调实验学家和计算科学家之间的合作，通过多学科研究来加强研究生和本科生的教育。夏季研究机会将提供给来自代表性不足群体的学生。设计互动模组，展示自组装的基本概念，并在当地的科学博物馆和节日展出。该奖项的总体目标是通过利用受限的几何形状来控制纳米粒子的组装，从而推进超粒子的设计和合成。将实现三个目标。首先，将建立以乳化液液滴为模板将非球形纳米颗粒组装成离散超颗粒的实验和计算方法。其次，利用传统乳化方法和微流体生成的乳化液液滴，实现由非中心对称纳米颗粒组成的超颗粒的精密合成。第三，在圆柱约束下通过结晶制备具有涌现手性光学性质的一维超粒子。实验与理论之间的相互作用，建立改进的合成和表征协议，推进粗粒度建模和仿真算法，将提高对球形和圆柱形约束中自组装途径的基本理解。所获得的发现和见解也将应用于其他受几何约束影响的系统，如孔隙中水的结晶、病毒衣壳的形成、生物矿化、大分子组织和细胞中的分子包装。该项目是通过“密闭空间中的化学和传输（NSF-DFG）”机会获得的，这是一项由美国国家科学基金会和德国科学研究协会（DFG）参与的合作征集。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。

Nanoparticles are finding use in almost all sectors of our economy from personal care to drug delivery. Their utility arises from the ability to access new properties that depend on their size, shape, and precise arrangement – called self-assembly. Self-assembly of nanoparticles in confined geometries hold the promise to build functional materials and devices with important properties that are otherwise not available. This award is a collaboration between Indiana University in the United States and Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg in Germany to create well-defined supraparticles consisting of tens to thousands of nonspherical nanoparticles through directed self-assembly within liquid droplets and small channels. This award will expand the toolbox of supraparticle-by-design and will lay the groundwork for future computational studies of nanoparticle assembly by incorporating realistic interactions. Broader impacts of this project emphasize collaboration between experimentalists and computational scientists to enhance graduate and undergraduate education through multidisciplinary research. Summer research opportunities will be provided to students from underrepresented groups. Interactive modules to illustrate basic concepts of self-assembly will be designed and presented at local science museums and festivals. The overall objective of this award is to advance the design and synthesis of supraparticles by leveraging confined geometries to control nanoparticle assembly. Three aims will be undertaken. First, experimental, and computational approaches for the assembly of nonspherical nanoparticles into discrete supraparticles using emulsion droplets as templates will be established. Second, emulsion droplets generated using conventional emulsification methods and microfluidics to achieve precision synthesis of supraparticles composed of non-centrosymmetric nanoparticles will be leveraged. Third, one-dimensional supraparticles with emergent chiral optical properties via crystallization under cylindrical confinement will be fabricated. The interplay between experiment, establishing improved synthesis and characterization protocols, and theory, advancing coarse-grained modeling and simulation algorithms, will improve the fundamental understanding of self-assembly pathways in spherical and cylindrical confinement. The findings obtained and insights gained will also have applications in other systems that are affected by geometric constraints, such as crystallization of water in pores, virus capsid formation, biomineralization, macromolecular organization, and molecular packing in cells.This project was awarded through the “Chemistry and Transport in Confined Spaces (NSF-DFG Confine)" opportunity, a collaborative solicitation that involves the National Science Foundation and Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG).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.