NanoMassCreator. Nanoparticle live synthesis: understanding of particle nucleation and growth by in-situ mass photometry

纳米质量创造者。

• 批准号: EP/X025713/1
• 负责人: Jiri Kratochvil
• 金额: $ 26万
• 依托单位: University of Oxford
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Fellowship
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2022 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FX025713%2F1
• 关键词: NanoMassCreator.; Nanoparticle; live; synthesis; understanding

Nanoparticles (NPs) are key building blocks in nanotechnology and, thanks to their remarkable properties unreachable for bulk materials, are extensively applied in catalysis, LCDs, solar panels, therapeutics, and biomedical imaging. Therefore, even a slight improvement in NP synthesis, and thereby NP properties, can have an enormous impact in research and industry. This multidisciplinary project, which borders physics, chemistry, and biology, aims to transform NP research, production, and application by developing a new way to characterise NP synthesis - in situ and with unprecedented resolution. My goal is to understand the physicochemical processes involved in NP synthesis by applying mass photometry - a recent breakthrough in biophysics based on interferometric scattering - to visualize single-NP growth at sub-nanometre resolution. Current methodologies used to characterize NPs often lack single-particle precision, resolution, speed, and affordability, or they are ill-suited to in-situ monitoring. The proposed approach to monitor NP synthesis by mass photometry will reveal the processes hidden behind the averaged signal that results from standard methods. Together with modeling NP scattering properties, it will allow the development of bright scattering and fluorescent NPs to be precisely tailored in terms of optical and bio-functionalization properties. I will demonstrate the impact of this research, which I will conduct at Oxford University under the supervision of mass photometry inventor Prof. Philipp Kukura, by using the NPs I develop for high-speed tracking in living cells during a secondment at Stanford University. The fulfillment of the project aim relies on connecting mass photometry with nanomaterial production - an area where I gained significant expertise during my doctoral studies. The project will allow me to broaden my knowledge about NP synthesis and nanomaterial applications in molecular imaging while dramatically improving NP synthesis.

纳米颗粒（NPs）是纳米技术的关键组成部分，由于其具有散装材料无法达到的显着特性，因此广泛应用于催化，LCD，太阳能电池板，治疗和生物医学成像。因此，即使是NP合成的轻微改进，以及由此NP性质的改进，也可以在研究和工业中产生巨大的影响。这个多学科项目，其中边界物理，化学和生物学，旨在通过开发一种新的方法来改变NP的研究，生产和应用-原位和前所未有的分辨率。我的目标是了解物理化学过程中涉及的NP合成应用质量光度法-最近的突破，在生物物理学的基础上干涉散射-可视化单NP生长在亚纳米分辨率。目前用于表征纳米颗粒的方法往往缺乏单颗粒的精度，分辨率，速度和可负担性，或者它们不适合原位监测。所提出的方法来监测NP合成质量光度法将揭示隐藏在平均信号，从标准方法的结果。与NP散射特性建模一起，它将允许在光学和生物功能化特性方面精确定制明亮散射和荧光NP的开发。我将展示这项研究的影响，我将在质量测光发明者Philipp Kukura教授的监督下在牛津大学进行，通过使用我在斯坦福大学借调期间开发的用于活细胞高速跟踪的NP。该项目目标的实现依赖于将质量测光与纳米材料生产相结合-这是我在博士研究期间获得重要专业知识的领域。该项目将使我扩大我的知识NP合成和纳米材料在分子成像中的应用，同时大大提高NP合成。