Applying Long-lived Metastable States with Switchable Functionality via Kinetic Control of Molecular Assembly - a Programme in Functional Materials

通过分子组装的动力学控制应用具有可切换功能的长寿命亚稳态 - 功能材料计划

基本信息

批准号：
EP/K004956/1
负责人：
Paul Robert Raithby
金额：
$ 412.95万
依托单位：
University of Bath
依托单位国家：
英国
项目类别：
Research Grant
财政年份：
2012
资助国家：
英国
起止时间：
2012 至无数据
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FK004956%2F1
关键词：
Applying Long lived Metastable States

项目摘要

One of the most important current areas in chemistry is developing new materials that are able to respond rapidly andreliably to changes in local environment, and send out signals that let us know what is happening. These "smart" materials can be used as sensors in a wide range of situations and are used in many aspects of modern life, from press-on patches to take a patient's temperature to solid-state electronic components in modern televisions. The clever chemistry used to develop such materials can help make materials with just the right property for the right situation - they can be made tuneable. The chemist aims to produce new, smart, responsive materials to be manufactured into useful devices for real applications. To produce new, better, more energy efficient materials that can benefit UK manufacturing and keep the UK at the forefront of technological developments, we need to find new ways of controlling the properties and functions of molecules to produce "even smarter" materials. This proposal aims to do just this, using a new way of tuning the properties of materials.Most smart materials operate in an equilibrium state, while most complex systems, such as animals and humans, operatein non-equilibrium states that are much more responsive to small changes in environment and can thus function in morecomplex ways; indeed, if the human race operated in equilibrium, life would cease to exist as we know it! We need stimulito keep us alive we wish to take inspiration from ourselves in developing a new generation of smart materials, by applyingthe ideas of "non-equilibrium" states to the development and operation of new materials. These will operate in differentways giving access to new properties and functions.Our new approach to designing new materials that operate in non-equilibrium conditions, uses "metastable" or excitedstates - this means that we stimulate the material, for example by a light pulse, and by doing so we change the way inwhich the chemical structure of that material delivers its properties. Effectively using excited states we can change thebehaviour of the electrons and hence the effect of the chemistry of a material without apparently changing its chemistry at all! Many current switchable smart materials must include regions of a different chemical or physical composition - these defects are very important for giving a material its properties, but produce a heterogeneous material - a good example is the "metamaterials" which physicists are developing. We will be able to introduce the same tuneable function but in chemically homogeneous materials, with real advantages for controlling their stability and performance.To achieve this, we have to make significant advances across a range of areas, including designing the chemistry ofmetastable switchable materials, generating excited states that give the desired change of property, controlling these"metastable-excited states" and eventually to build these into useful devices for applications. Our proposal will allow us to develop ways of controlling the properties and functions of these metastable materials in ways that are not possiblecurrently.There are many possible applications for these new materials including more efficient conductors and more miniaturisationof devices that rely on electronics. We can also envisage engineering thin films that will provide each of the colours of the spectrum by simply changing the input voltage, allowing smart paints or smart fabrics whose colour could be chosen to suit mood or environment. We can also develop "active membranes" whose mechanical properties can be actively tuned, which will be useful in medicine and energy applications. In the longer term there is the prospect of developingmaterials with a negative refractive index, whose special properties would mean that by switching on and off an electriccurrent, objects will apparently disappear and reappear!

当前最重要的化学领域之一是开发能够对当地环境变化做出迅速反应的新材料，并发送信号，让我们知道正在发生的事情。这些“智能”材料可以在各种情况下用作传感器，并在现代生活的许多方面都使用，从按下贴片到将患者的温度升级到现代电视中的固态电子组件。用于开发此类材料的聪明化学反应可以帮助制造具有正确情况的正确属性的材料 - 可以使它们可调。该化学家旨在生产新的，智能的响应材料，以制造成用于实际应用的有用设备。为了生产新的，更好，更节能的材料，这些材料可以使英国制造业受益，并使英国处于技术发展的最前沿，我们需要找到新的方法来控制分子的特性和功能，以生产“甚至更聪明”的材料。该提案旨在以一种新的方式调整材料的特性。大多数智能材料以平衡状态运行，而大多数复杂的系统（例如动物和人类）运行非平衡状态，这些状态对环境的较小变化有更大的响应，因此可以在Morecomplex的方式中发挥作用；的确，如果人类均衡运作，那么我们所知道的生活将不再存在！我们需要Stimulito保持我们的活力，我们希望通过将“非平衡”状态的思想应用于新材料的开发和运行中，从而从自己开发新一代的智能材料中汲取灵感。这些将在不同的方式中运行，以访问新的属性和功能。我们设计在非平衡条件下运行的新材料，使用“可稳态”或激发态的新材料 - 这意味着我们通过轻脉冲刺激材料，例如通过轻脉冲，这样我们就以此来更改材料的化学结构来改变其性质的化学结构。有效地使用激发状态，我们可以改变电子的行为，从而在不明显改变其化学状态的情况下对材料的化学作用产生影响！当前许多可切换的智能材料必须包括不同化学或物理组成的区域 - 这些缺陷对于赋予其特性非常重要，但产生了异质材料 - 一个很好的例子是物理学家正在发展的“超材料”。我们将能够引入相同的可调功能，但在化学均匀的材料中，具有控制它们的稳定性和性能的真正优势。要实现这一目标，我们必须在各个领域取得重大进步，包括设计可估计的可切换材料的化学反应，产生激动的状态，从而产生了所需的财产变化，从而使这些“具有稳定的验证状态”的状态最终将这些应用程序构建为这些应用程序，并将其构建为这些功能。我们的建议将使我们能够以不可行的方式开发控制这些亚稳态材料的属性和功能的方法。这些新材料有许多可能的应用，包括更有效的导体和更多依赖电子设备的微型疗法。我们还可以设想工程薄膜，这些薄膜将通过简单地更改输入电压来提供光谱的每种颜色，从而允许可以选择适合情绪或环境的智能油漆或智能面料。我们还可以开发可以主动调整机械性能的“主动膜”，这将在医学和能源应用中有用。从长远来看，具有负折射率为负的材料的前景，其特殊属性意味着通过打开和关闭电流，物体显然会消失并重新出现！