GCR: Rational Design of Topological Insulators using Atomically-Precise DNA Self-Assembly

在许多方面，人类的历史就是物质的历史；从青铜和铁器时代到现代硅时代，人类利用周围材料的特性促进了文明的进步。从这个角度来看，改进的顶峰将是设计具有预期先验性能的材料。这个融合项目的愿景就是解决这个巨大的挑战。该项目旨在利用DNA自组装的独特特性，以及其化学和结构特性，创造具有精确可控电子和磁性质的合成材料，最终目标是开发磁性拓扑绝缘体（TIs）。将强大的磁性引入ti将允许在固态中实现独特的量子现象，可以用于量子计算，电子学，自旋电子学，光电子学和可再生能源等应用。实现这一愿景需要化学、生物学、材料科学、工程学、纳米技术、计算建模和凝聚态物理的融合。为了实现融合，该项目汇集了跨越这些学科的不同专家团队，他们将协同工作，共同设计和开发这些系统。发展精确控制材料的电子能带结构和磁性的能力将在未来几十年对整个社会产生广泛的影响。此外，该项目还包括一个框架，用于形成一个新的科学社区，该社区专注于利用软物质独特的空间和拓扑特性来创建具有精确定制的电子和磁性质的拓扑绝缘体。这个社区将代表来自广泛的科学和工程社区的思想、语言和理想的融合。该项目旨在开发一种框架，能够对材料的电子和磁性进行精确的拓扑控制。实现这一愿景需要互补学科之间的融合，以最终融合软物质领域，实空间拓扑与动量空间（k空间）拓扑。具体来说，目标是利用DNA纳米技术提供的独特的可编程性和无与伦比的空间、结构和自组装能力，精确地定制金属离子的拓扑结构，最终通过迭代、合理的设计创造磁性拓扑绝缘体。在拓扑绝缘体中引入磁性是目前凝聚态物理学界尚未解决的主要挑战；而真实空间的、基于dna的拓扑控制为解决这一挑战提供了一条独特的途径。原子精度，金属化DNA基序的发展将允许控制电子特性，设计特定目的，自组装的带结构。为了实现这一目标，该项目将重点关注：i)在原子和分子水平上推进金属化碱基对的化学设计和合成；ii)在超分子尺度上开发DNA组装的结构和拓扑设计方法；iii)提取和量化小型dna组件的电子特性；Iv)在分子水平上模拟混合生物/凝聚态物质的电子结构和输运性质；v)开发一种设计语言，以理解如何将DNA纳米技术提供的独特空间拓扑控制映射到拓扑绝缘体中电子的所需动量空间拓扑控制中。通过这些步骤，该项目将设计和实施最初的原理验证TI设计，并播下一个新社区的种子，该社区将在未来几十年内维持这一新兴领域。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。

In many ways the history of humanity is the history of materials; from the Bronze and Iron Ages to the modern Silicon Age, humans have taken advantage of the properties of the materials around them to foster the advancement of civilization. From this viewpoint, the pinnacle of improvement would be to design materials with desired properties a priori. The vision of this convergent project is to address this grand challenge. This project aims to take advantage of the unique characteristics of DNA self-assembly, along with its chemical and structural properties to create synthetic materials with precisely-controllable electronic and magnetic properties with the ultimate goal of developing magnetic Topological Insulators (TIs). The introduction of robust magnetism into TIs will allow unique quantum phenomena to be realized in the solid state that could be exploited for applications including quantum computing, electronics, spintronics, optoelectronics, and renewable energy. Accomplishing this vision will require a convergence between chemistry, biology, materials science, engineering, nanotechnology, computational modeling, and condensed matter physics. To achieve convergence, this project brings together a diverse team of experts spanning these disciplines that will work collaboratively to co-design and co-develop these systems. Developing the ability to precisely control the electronic band structure and magnetic properties of materials will have broad impacts across society in the coming decades. In addition, this project includes a framework for nucleating a new scientific community focused on utilizing the unique spatial and topological properties of soft matter to create topological insulators with precisely tailored electronic and magnetic properties. This community will represent a convergence of thoughts, language, and ideals from a broad spectrum of the science and engineering community. This project aims to develop a framework that enables precision topological control over the electronic and magnetic properties of materials. Achieving this vision requires a convergence between complementary disciplines to ultimately fuse the realms of soft matter, real-space topology with momentum-space (k-space) topology. Specifically, the aim is to utilize the unique programmability and unparalleled spatial, structural, and self-assembly capabilities afforded by DNA nanotechnology to precisely tailor the topology of metal ions to ultimately create magnetic topological insulators through iterative, rational design. The introduction of magnetism into topological insulators is currently a major unresolved challenge in the condensed matter physics community; and real-space, DNA-based topological control provides a unique path toward solving this challenge. The development of atomically precise, metalated DNA motifs will allow control over electronic properties, and the design of purpose-specific, self-assembled band structure. To achieve this goal, this project will focus on: i) advancing chemical design and synthesis of metalated base pairs at the atomic and molecular levels; ii) developing approaches for the structural and topological design of DNA assemblies at the supramolecular scale; iii) extracting and quantifying the electronic properties of small-scale DNA-based assemblies; iv) modeling the electronic structure and transport properties of hybrid bio/condensed matter at the molecular levels; v) developing a design language for understanding how to map the unique spatial topological control afforded by DNA nanotechnology into the desired momentum-space topological control of electrons in topological insulators. Through these steps, this project will design and implement initial proof-of-principle TI designs and plant the seeds of a new community that will sustain this nascent field in the decades to come.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.