Directed nanoparticle growth by oriented aggregation

在这个由化学部门的大分子、超分子和纳米化学项目资助的项目中，明尼苏达大学的R. L. Penn将通过定向聚集机制来了解纳米颗粒晶体生长的基本化学原理。该方法是利用一系列散射和显微镜技术来研究纳米晶体生长作为反应条件和时间的函数。特别是，四个关键的假设将被测试关于表面电荷，钝化剂，不良的晶体面化，和顺序的反应溶液的变化对所得到的纳米晶体的结构和组成的影响。更广泛的影响包括培养本科生、研究生和博士后研究人员，传播研究成果，通过在课堂上远程观察活体显微镜来增强研究和教育的基础设施，以及为高中和初中班级开发纳米晶体实验室模块。这项工作将扩大我们对如何在高度控制结构和组成的情况下，以十亿分之一米的顺序生长粒子的理解。这些研究的结果可能对纳米粒子应用的纳米技术领域产生许多重要的长期影响，包括医学成像、显示材料和光伏。

In this project funded by the Macromolecular, Supramolecular and Nanochemistry Program of the Chemistry Division, R. L. Penn of the University of Minnesota will seek to understand the fundamental chemical principles underlying nanoparticle crystal growth by the oriented aggregation mechanism. The approach is to utilize an array of scattering and microscopy techniques to study nanocrystal growth as a function of reaction conditions and time. In particular, four key hypotheses will be tested regarding the effects of surface charge, passivating agents, poor crystal faceting, and sequential reaction solution changes upon the structures and compositions of the resulting nanocrystals. The broader impacts involve training undergraduate students, graduate students, and postdoctoral researchers, disseminating research results, enhancing infrastructure for research and education through remote viewing of live microscopy in the classroom, and developing a laboratory module on nanocrystals for high school and middle school classes.This work will expand our understanding about how to grow particles with dimensions on the order of one billionth of a meter with a high degree of control over structure and composition. The results of these studies could have many important long term impacts on nanotechnology fields in which nanoparticles are used, including medical imaging, display materials, and photovoltaics.