BRIGE: Time-resolved Surface Damping in Nanoscale Resonators for Monitoring of Biological/Chemical Reactions

BRIGE：用于监测生物/化学反应的纳米级谐振器中的时间分辨表面阻尼来自表面力的能量耗散的基本研究（即，表面耗散），特别是关于它如何可以用于检测和研究生物或化学反应。 在过去的十年中，微和纳米机械谐振器已被彻底研究，作为化学和生物传感器，通过检测质量引起的谐振频率的变化，从特定的反应。 然而，由于表面力引起的振动能量的耗散，谐振器最终“振铃”的一个原因，直到现在还没有被用作感测机制。 以前的工作表明，表面力可以有一个更强大的影响表面耗散比谐振频率，打开的可能性，表面耗散可用作一种新的传感度量共振生物或化学传感器。 参数品质因数（Q）是谐振器中能量耗散的量度，其中表面力（Qsurface）的能量损失是本工作中感兴趣的特定损失机制。 为此，将追求三个目标：1）制造具有Q表面作为限制能量耗散机制的谐振器，2）测量Q表面对不同气体的依赖性，以及3）跟踪Q表面随时间的变化，以确定关于Q表面的时间信息是否可以洞察生物或化学反应的发生或进展。所提出的工作的智力价值如下：首先，一个基本的问题-“为什么谐振器不会永远响？”将被解决。 虽然某些形式的能量耗散（例如，空气阻尼）被合理地很好地理解，其他的仍然难以捉摸。 表面耗散特别难以理解，因为它依赖于高的表面积与体积比，这使得它很难在纳米尺度以上看到。 接下来，将探讨使用Qsurface作为测量化学或生物反应的发生或进展的新工具，揭示对表面力的深入了解，这些表面力无法用纯粹的质量引起的频移方法测量。 最后，将研究使用时间分辨测量来揭示反应过程中发生的化学或生物反应之间的差异，而不是只看前后快照视图。这项工作将在几个方面产生更广泛的影响。 在工程中，表面耗散的使用可以为测量生物和化学反应提供新的平台。 这些测量的时间分辨率可能会导致在这些反应过程中发现表面力相关的现象。 在教育方面，该计划将使来自代表性不足群体的四名本科生每人接受一年的研究培训。 这将使这些学生成为下一代工程师的技术领导者和榜样。 本科生研究人员将作为榜样和导师，以高中学生教他们如何工程造福社会。

BRIGE: Time-Resolved Surface Damping in Nanoscale Resonators for Monitoring of Biological/Chemical ReactionsThe fundamental investigation of energy dissipation from surface forces (i.e., surface dissipation) in nanomechanical resonators is proposed, especially in regards to how it may be used to detect and study biological or chemical reactions. In the past decade, micro- and nano-mechanical resonators have been thoroughly studied for use as chemical and biological sensors by detecting mass-induced change of resonant frequency that results from specific reactions. However, the dissipation of vibrational energy due to surface forces, one reason that resonators eventually "ring down," has until now not been utilized as a sensing mechanism. Previous work demonstrated that surface forces can have a more powerful effect on surface dissipation than on resonant frequency, opening up the possibility that surface dissipation could be used as a new sensing metric for resonating biological or chemical sensors. The parameter quality factor (Q) is a measure of energy dissipation in resonators, with energy lost to surface forces (Qsurface) being the particular loss mechanism of interest in this work. Toward this end, three objectives will be pursued: 1) Fabrication of resonators with Qsurface as the limiting energy dissipation mechanism, 2) Measurement of Qsurface dependence on different gases, and 3) Tracking the change of Qsurface over time to determine if temporal information about Qsurface can give insight into the occurrence or progress of biological or chemical reactions. The intellectual merit of the proposed work is as follows: First, a fundamental question - "Why do resonators not ring forever?" - will be addressed. While some forms of energy dissipation (e.g., air damping) are reasonably well understood, others remain elusive. Surface dissipation is especially difficult to understand, because its dependence on a high surface-to-volume ratio makes it difficult to see above the nanoscale. Next, the use of Qsurface as a new tool for measuring the occurrence or progress of chemical or biological reactions will be explored, revealing insight into surface forces that would not be measureable with a purely mass-induced frequency-shift method. Finally, the use of time-resolved measurements will be investigated to reveal differences between chemical or biological reactions that occur during the reaction process, as opposed to looking at only the before-and-after snapshot views.This work will have broader impact in several ways. In engineering, the use of surface dissipation could allow for a new platform for measuring biological and chemical reactions. The time-resolution of these measurements could lead to discovery of surface force-related phenomena during these reactions. In education, this program will enable four undergraduate students from underrepresented groups to each receive one year of research training. This will prepare these students to be the technical leaders and role models for the next generation of engineers. The undergraduate researchers will serve as role models and mentors to high school students by teaching them about how engineering benefits society.