Luminescent Nanostructures: Controlling Nanoscale Architecture for Multifunctionality

近年来，功能性发光纳米材料从基本角度及其在健康、食品、安全、能源和环境等多个领域的潜在应用引起了人们的极大兴趣。我们对发光纳米材料世界的基本了解，从它们的生长和结构，到它们在外源刺激后的行为，正在导致实现具有以前从未观察到的特性或其组合的工程纳米系统。然而，我们非常需要通过量身定制的研究来指导我们的基本理解，以解决明确的问题并开发新的应用。该计划旨在弥合这一鸿沟，以便从新设计的发光纳米结构中收集的信息可用于对加拿大具有重要意义的创新应用。在寻找新型发光纳米材料的过程中，稀土掺杂纳米结构因其迷人且多功能的光学特性而处于前沿。鉴于这种无可争议的兴趣，我制定了一项强有力的研究计划，在 INRS-EMT 上研究功能性发光纳米结构，特别关注稀土掺杂纳米颗粒。在这项发现资助的框架内，我的目标是开发新的稀土掺杂纳米结构，以阐明结构与发光之间的基本关系。这种理解将指导我们设计具有新的或增强的发光特性的纳米结构，以实现最终的应用集成。 具体来说，在接下来的五年中，我将：（i）研究具有受控稀土掺杂的新纳米结构，以减轻和利用稀土离子之间的能量转移过程来解耦个体发光特性； (ii) 开发能够同时提供光学产生的热量和实时温度检测的新纳米平台； （iii）通过稀土掺杂纳米结构与其他多种近红外可扰动纳米材料的合理组合来设计混合纳米结构。 这项雄心勃勃的研究计划将带来新型功能性发光纳米结构工程的创新进展，为开发符合加拿大社会当前需求的有形应用铺平道路，培养高素质人才以满足学术界和工业界的科技要求，并通过实现新兴技术平台巩固加拿大在先进材料研究，特别是纳米材料研究和开发方面的领导地位。

Functional luminescent nanomaterials have garnered significant interest in recent years from both a fundamental viewpoint and for their potential applications spanning several sectors including health, food, safety, energy, and environment. Our fundamental understanding of the luminescent nanomaterials world, from their growth and structure, to their behavior after exogenous stimulation, is leading to the realization of engineered nanosystems with properties, or a combination thereof, never before observed. There exists, however, a great need to guide our basic understanding with tailored research to address explicit problems and to develop new applications. This program seeks to bridge this divide such that the information gleaned from newly engineered luminescent nanostructures can be exploited for innovative applications of importance to Canada. In the search for new luminescent nanomaterials, rare earth doped nanostructures are at the cutting edge due to their fascinating and versatile optical properties. Given this indisputable interest, I have developed a vigorous research program to investigate functional luminescent nanostructures at INRS-EMT with a particular focus on rare earth doped nanoparticles. In the framework of this Discovery Grant, my goal is to develop new rare earth doped nanostructures to unravel the basic relationships between structure and luminescence. This understanding will guide us towards engineering nanoarchitectures with new or enhanced luminescence properties for ultimate application integration. Specifically, over the course of the next five years, I will: (i) study new nanoarchitectures with controlled rare earth doping to mitigate and harness energy transfer processes amongst rare earth ions to decouple individual luminescence properties; (ii) Develop new nanoplatforms capable of simultaneously delivering optically generated heat and real-time temperature detection; (iii) Engineer hybrid nanostructures through the rational combination of rare earth doped nanostructures with other diverse near-infrared perturbable nanomaterials. This ambitious research program will result in innovative advances in the engineering of new functional luminescent nanostructures paving the way for the development of tangible applications consistent with the immediate needs of Canadian society, train highly qualified personnel to address the scientific and technological requirements of academia and industry, and underpin Canada's position of leadership in Advanced Materials research, in particular nanomaterials research and development through the realization of an emerging technology platform.