Free-Standing All-Nanoparticle Thin Fibers: A Novel Building Block for Organic Photovoltaic Applications

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。该研究奖项的目标是通过在纤维中冷冻干燥纳米颗粒，在纤维中组装共轭互穿网络，并获得对创建这种网络的机制的基本理解。研究方法有三层：1)将纳米颗粒组装成细纤维森林；2)原位和三维研究这些细纤维的单向生长；3)对表面张力在装配过程中的作用有一个基本的认识。设计纳米粒子并使其形成很少观察到的纳米纤维的能力将大大增加有关材料加工和制造的知识体系。更重要的是，当这些纳米颗粒由共轭聚合物制成时，薄纤维有望成为有机光伏电池的新基石，具有当前技术无法实现的优越光子到电子转换效率。工程专业的研究生和本科生以及高中教师将受益于课堂教学和暑期研究参与。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). The objective of this research award is to assemble conjugated, interpenetrating networks in fibers by freeze-drying nanoparticles in the fibers and gain a fundamental understanding of the mechanism for creating such networks. The research approach is three-fold, 1) assemble nanoparticles into a forest of thin fibers; 2) investigate the unidirectional growth of these thin fibers in-situ and in 3D; and 3) establish a fundamental understanding of the role of surface tension in the assembly process.The ability to engineer nanoparticles and allow them to form rarely observed nanofibers will add significantly to the body of knowledge regarding to material processing and manufacturing. More importantly, when these nanoparticles are made of conjugated polymers, the thin fibers are expected to be a novel building block for organic photovoltaic cells with superior photon-to-electron conversion efficiency unachievable in current technology. Graduate and undergraduate engineering students and high school teachers will benefit through classroom instruction and summer research involvement.