Collaboration Building: Towards the Next Generation of Scanning Probe Block Copolymer Nanolithography

纵观历史，我们操纵物质的能力一直是人类进步的基石之一，从通过化学反应合成药物分子，到建造最大的摩天大楼。目前，人们对纳米技术非常感兴趣，纳米技术是一门构建和研究纳米尺度(十亿分之一米)物体的科学。这一领域的研究表明，当材料缩小到这个尺寸，或者在这个长度上改变它们的形状时，可能会产生与它们以块状形式存在时完全不同的全新性质。通过找到利用这些不同寻常的特性的方法，可以开发用于改进电子设备、医疗工具甚至建筑材料的新技术。然而，开发方便的方法来组装具有这种纳米控制的结构和化学复杂表面仍然是一个艰巨的挑战。解决这个问题的一个可能的方法是结合两种强大的生成纳米级物体的方法：第一种使用一种名为“扫描探针显微镜”的仪器，它使用微型电机来移动非常尖锐的尖端，即只有几纳米宽的仪器的“探针”。该仪器还能够以纳米级的精度控制探头的移动。这种能够在如此精细的控制下移动和定位探头的能力，使其有可能使用它在表面上“写入”图案。与这种方法一起使用的是特别设计的“嵌段共聚物”，这是一种塑料材料，聚合物分子的不同部分具有不同的物理性质。由于聚合物分子的不同部分以不同的方式与其周围环境和其他聚合物分子相互作用，它们将自己分离为微观和纳米结构。例如，油滴与水分离的方式是由于油分子更喜欢与其他油分子而不是水分子结合。因此，通过使用扫描探针沉积嵌段共聚聚合物，将有可能在表面产生极小的液滴状结构，甚至比通常仅用标准扫描探针方法所能产生的结构还要小。这笔旅行补助金将允许王博士访问美国波士顿的东北大学，与聚合物化学家K·张教授合作，开发将这两个原本不同的研究领域结合在一起的新方法。

Throughout history, our ability to manipulate matter has always been one of the cornerstones of human progress, from the synthesis of drug molecules by chemical reactions, to the building of the largest skyscrapers. Currently, there is great interest in nanotechnology, the science of constructing and studying objects at nanometre scales (a billionth of a metre). Research in this area has shown that when materials are reduced down to this size scale, or have alterations to their shape at this length, entirely new properties can arise that are radically different from when they exist in a bulk form. By finding ways of harnessing these unusual properties, new technologies can be developed for improved electronic devices, medical tools and even construction materials. However, the development of convenient methods for assembling structurally and chemically complex surfaces with such nanometre control remains a formidable challenge.One possible means of addressing this issue is to combine two powerful methods of generating nano-scale objects: The first uses an instrument called a "scanning probe microscope", which employs miniature electrical motors to move a very sharp tip, the "probe" of the instrument that is only a few nanometres wide. The instrument is also able to control the movement of this probe with nanometre precision. This ability to move and position the probe with such fine control makes it possible to use it to "write" patterns on surfaces. Together with this method is the use of specially designed "block copolymers", which are a type of plastic material where different parts of the polymer molecule have different physical properties. Since the different portions of the polymer molecule interact with their surroundings and other polymer molecules in different ways, they separate themselves out into microscopic and nanoscopic structures. For example, the way oil droplets separate from water is due to the fact that the oil molecules prefer to associate with other oil molecules rather than water molecules. Thus, by using a scanning probe to deposit block copolymers, it will be possible to generate extremely small droplet-like structures on surfaces, which would be even smaller than could normally be produced by standard scanning probe methods alone.This travel grant will allow Dr. L. S. Wong to visit Northeastern University in Boston, USA, to work with Prof. K. Zhang, an expert polymer chemist and develop new methods that combine these two otherwise disparate areas of research.