CAREER: CAS: Chemical Pathways for the Synthesis of Dilute Metal Alloy and Multimetallic Complex Solid Solution Nanocrystals

在化学学部大分子、超分子和纳米化学项目的支持下，印第安纳大学布卢明顿分校的叶星辰博士将开发制造纳米级金属合金的新方法。除了潜在地表现出独特的化学和物理性质外，这些纳米颗粒含有地球上丰富的非贵重元素，使它们比常用的贵金属纳米颗粒更便宜，更可持续。这些纳米粒子有潜力在清洁能源、光子学、制药工业等领域应用新技术。该项目的广泛影响包括教育和推广活动，旨在提高K-12学生对科学的兴趣，并提高本科生对STEM领域研究生学习的准备。具体来说，叶博士将开发一个名为“胶体-显微镜-数据”的课堂教学模块，让高中生了解胶体化学和显微镜成像的现代方面。此外，将创建一个为期8周的暑期课程，吸引本科生，特别是那些来自代表性不足群体的学生，参与材料化学研究。叶研究小组的目标是建立合成具有明确形状和成分的稀金属合金和复杂多金属纳米晶体的化学途径。在目标1中，将合成和表征稀金属合金纳米晶体库，重点是非贵重但化学上更具挑战性的贱金属体系。这些纳米晶体的催化和等离子体性质将被评估，以了解结构-性质关系。在Aim 2中，将研究一种新的催化生长机制，该机制可以提供使用现有合成方法尚未获得的各种金属纳米晶体。最后，在Aim 3中，将研究由五种或更多元素组成的多金属纳米晶体的形成机制和途径。这项研究的一个重要目标是对控制这些纳米颗粒的结构和组成的因素有一个更好的基本理解。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。

With the support of the Macromolecular, Supramolecular and Nanochemistry Program in the Division of Chemistry, Dr. Xingchen Ye of Indiana University Bloomington will develop new ways of making nanoscale metal alloys. In addition to potentially exhibiting unique chemical and physical properties, these nanoparticles contain earth-abundant, non-precious elements making them less expensive and more sustainable than the commonly used noble metal nanoparticles. These nanoparticles have the potential to enable new technologies in clean energy, photonics, pharmaceutical industry applications and more. The broader impacts of this project include educational and outreach initiatives that aim to increase interest in science among K-12 students and to improve undergraduate students’ readiness for graduate study in STEM fields. Specifically, Dr. Ye will develop a classroom teaching module called “Colloids-Microscopy-Data” to expose high school students to modern aspects of colloidal chemistry and microscopy imaging. In addition, an 8-week summer program will be created to engage undergraduate students, particularly those from underrepresented groups, in materials chemistry research. The Ye research group aims to establish chemical pathways for the synthesis of dilute metal alloy and complex multimetallic nanocrystals with well-defined shape and composition. In Aim 1, a library of dilute metal alloy nanocrystals will be synthesized and characterized, with the emphasis on non-precious yet chemically more challenging base metal systems. The catalytic and plasmonic properties of these nanocrystals will be evaluated to understand structure-property relationships. In Aim 2, a novel catalytic growth mechanism will be studied, which could provide access to diverse metal nanocrystals not yet available using existing synthetic methods. Finally, in Aim 3, the mechanisms and pathways for the formation of multimetallic nanocrystals consisting of five or more elements will be examined. An important goal of this research is to gain a better fundamental understanding of the factors that control the structures and compositions of these classes of nanoparticles.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.