Understanding and Controlling the Self Assembly of Nanoscale Polyoxometalate Clusters: From Understanding to the Design of Functional Clusters

纳米级聚氧乙烯簇是金属氧化物分子，比人类头发细10，000倍（一种常见的金属氧化物是铁锈），它们可以提供无可匹敌的一类分子，显示出广泛的非常有趣的物理性质（它们可以被用作分子机器，“帮助”一个分子非常迅速地变成另一个分子，而不会浪费，它们可以在光线中改变颜色，并像DVD上的染料一样用于存储信息，像电池一样用于存储电力，甚至作为非常小的磁铁）。这是因为它们可以被认为是基于一组共同的积木或乐高积木，可以通过多种方式组装在一起，一步就可以构建不同类型的分子物体。虽然这些分子很大，包含数千个构建模块，但它们构建自身的方式尚不清楚，也不可能使用蓝图或任何其他计划来设计分子。此外，这些分子是脆弱的，很容易分崩离析。在这项研究中，我们将开发一种方法来研究这些非常大的集群的一步构建，目的是准确地了解它们是如何构建的。要做到这一点，我们需要采用许多不同风格的检测工作，从检查这些分子的结构，通过将它们包裹在一种塑料中使它们更稳定，到在它们组装成纳米级簇之前捕获单个乐高积木。我们将使用一个非常强大的显微镜，通过称量团簇和存在的构建块，并在我们制造团簇时测量它们的分子指纹来做到这一点。我们还将设计不同的计划，并通过在我们制作它们之前预测集群的形状来测试它们。重要的是，这种探测工作将用于超越理解过程，但我们的目标是利用这种理解来生产纳米尺寸的“设计师”功能材料。

Nanoscale polyoxometalate clusters are molecules of metal oxide 10,000 times thinner than a human hair (a common metal oxide is rust) and they provide arguably an unrivalled class of molecules displaying a wide range of very interesting physical properties (they can be used as molecular machines to 'help' one molecule turn into another very quickly without waste, they can change colour in light and be used to store information like dyes on a DVD, be used like a battery to store electricity and even as very small magnets). This is because they can be thought of being based on a common set of building blocks, or lego bricks, that can be put together in many ways to build different types of molecular objects in one step. Although these molecules are large and contain many thousands of building blocks, the way they build themselves is not understood and it is not possible to design the molecules using a blueprint or any other plan. Also these molecules are fragile and easily fall apart.In this research we will develop an approach to look at the one step construction of these very large clusters with the aim of working out exactly how they are built. To do this we will need to adopt a number of different styles of detective work, from examining the structure of these molecules by making them more stable by wrapping them in a type of plastic, to trapping the individual lego bricks before they assemble into the nanoscale cluster. We will do this by using a very powerful microscope, by weighing the clusters and building blocks present, and by measuring their molecular fingerprint when we make the clusters. We will also design different plans and test them by trying to predict the shape of the cluster before we make them.Importantly this detective work will be used to go beyond understanding the process but we will aim to use this understanding to produce 'designer' functional materials of nanoscopic dimensions.