CAREER: Ordered Materials in Curved Spaces

*非技术性摘要*本奖项由2009年《美国复苏和再投资法案》(公法111-5)资助。许多自然和合成系统都涉及二维表面上单元的有序排列。例如病毒蛋白衣壳、富勒烯、膜和胶体，它们是球形液滴表面的胶粒排列。该学院早期职业奖资助了一个项目，该项目将试验性地解决下层表面的特性和能量最小化两者所起的作用，前者规定了在特定有序中可能出现的缺陷结构的某些广泛特征，后者最终控制了有序材料的详细结构。通过开发基于微流体学的新方法来生成球形和非球形封闭表面，该项目将解决这种相互作用并揭示其后果。除了在生物系统中可能的应用外，控制生成的缺陷结构还可以产生功能粒子，因为可以将缺陷功能化以提供定向结合能力；因此，胶体超原子可能被设计成具有特定形状和价态的超原子，用于构建超分子和新型块体材料。将作出巨大努力，与该项目的研究部分协同发展一项实质性的教育和推广方案。为此，将开发一门新课程，介绍软性凝聚态的最新基本进展，并提供给GaTech的本科生和研究生。此外，通过让亚特兰大的芬班克科学中心参与，该项目将能够通过针对高中生和普通公众的外联活动来传播所涉及的几何和物理方面；该项目的实验性质和预期结果的视觉吸引力将有助于有效地宣传该项目原本抽象的结果。*技术摘要*本奖项由《2009年美国复苏和再投资法案》(公法111-5)资助。许多自然和合成系统涉及二维空间上单位的有序排列。例如病毒蛋白衣壳、富勒烯、膜和胶体，它们是球形液滴表面的胶粒排列。该学院早期职业奖资助了一个项目，该项目将实验性地解决底层表面的拓扑结构及其详细曲率所起的作用。拓扑决定了基态拓扑缺陷结构的某些广泛特征，但曲率驱动的能量学控制了有序相的详细结构。通过开发基于微流体流的新方法来生成具有零亏格和非零亏格的闭合曲面，该项目将解决这种相互作用并揭示其后果。除了在生物系统中可能的应用外，所产生的缺陷结构的实验控制和可调性还可以导致具有价态的粒子，因为缺陷可以被功能化以产生具有定向成键能力的配体；因此，介观尺度的超原子可能被设计成具有特定形状和价态的超原子，用于构建超分子和新型块体材料。将作出巨大努力，与该项目的研究部分协同发展一项实质性的教育和推广方案。为此，将开发一门新课程，介绍软性凝聚态的最新基本进展，并提供给GaTech的本科生和研究生。此外，通过让亚特兰大的芬班克科学中心参与，该项目将能够通过针对高中生和普通公众的宣传活动来传播所涉及的几何和物理概念；该项目的实验性质和预期结果的视觉吸引力将有助于实现这一目标。

****NON-TECHNICAL ABSTRACT****This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). Many natural and synthetic systems involve ordered arrangements of units on two-dimensional surfaces. Examples include viral protein capsids, fullerenes, membranes and colloidosomes, which are colloidal-particle arrangements on the surface of a spherical drop. This Faculty Early Career Award funds a project that will experimentally address the role played by both the characteristics of the underlying surface, which dictates certain broad features of the defect structure that can arise within the particular ordering, and the minimization of energy, which in the end controls the detailed structure of the ordered material. By developing new methodologies based on microfluidics to generate spherical and non-spherical closed surfaces, this project will address this interplay and unravel its consequences. Beside possible applications in biological systems, controlling the resultant defect structure can lead to functional particles, since the defects can be functionalized to provide directional bonding capabilities; as a result, colloidal superatoms might be designed with specific shapes and valency for use in building supermolecules and novel bulk materials. A strong effort will be focused on developing a substantial educational and outreach program synergistically with the research component of the project. For this, a new course to present recent fundamental advances in Soft Condensed Matter will be developed and offered to undergraduate and graduate students at GaTech. In addition, by involving the Fernbank Science Center in Atlanta, this project will enable the dissemination of the geometrical and physical aspects involved through outreach activities aimed at high school students and the general public; the experimental character of the project and the visual appeal of the expected results will serve to effectively communicate the otherwise abstract outcomes of the project. ****TECHNICAL ABSTRACT****This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). Many natural and synthetic systems involve ordered arrangements of units on two-dimensional spaces. Examples include viral protein capsids, fullerenes, membranes and colloidosomes, which are colloidal-particle arrangements on the surface of a spherical drop. This Faculty Early Career Award funds a project that will experimentally address the role played by both the topology of the underlying surface and its detailed curvature. Topology dictates certain broad features of the topological-defect structure of the ground state, but the curvature-driven energetics controls the detailed structure of the ordered phase. By developing new methodologies based on microfluidic flows to generate closed surfaces with zero and non-zero genus, this project will address this interplay and unravel its consequences. Beside possible applications in biological systems, the experimental control and tunability of the resultant defect structure can lead to particles with a valency, since the defects can be functionalized to create ligands with directional bonding capabilities; as a result, mesoscale superatoms might be designed with specific shapes and valency for use as building blocks of supermolecules and novel bulk materials. A strong effort will be focused on developing a substantial educational and outreach program synergistically with the research component of the project. For this, a new course to present recent fundamental advances in Soft Condensed Matter will be developed and offered to undergraduate and graduate students at GaTech. In addition, by involving the Fernbank Science Center in Atlanta, this project will enable the dissemination of the geometrical and physical concepts involved through outreach activities aimed at high school students and the general public; the experimental character of the project and the visual appeal of the expected results will aid this goal.