Multi-Charged Buckybowls: Self-Assembly and Metal Ion Intercalation

该奖项由MSN化学项目颁发，支持纽约州立大学奥尔巴尼分校Marina A. Petrukhina教授的工作，该研究旨在探索碗状多芳烃（也称为巴克碗或富勒烯片段）的多重电子吸收。在这个项目中，巴基碗映射到富勒烯表面并代表纳米管的端帽，被用作各种富碳纳米材料的有效模型，从而为在分子水平上研究弯曲和应变pi系统的氧化还原特性提供了一个极好的机会。具体来说，具有多个电子的充电pi-bowl对其分子几何形状，金属结合能力和自组装的影响将被广泛研究。因此，这个程序应该提高我们对碳质纳米结构材料的氧化还原行为和电子传递的理解。它将有助于阐明碱金属离子在非平面pi-碳表面之间的嵌入，这对寻找和设计有前途的锂离子电池碳基负极材料具有重要意义。这一基础项目将全面推进弯曲的富碳聚芳烃的材料化学应用，包括巴克碗、富勒烯和纳米管，在从电子到储能的几个新兴领域。该项目还将对奥尔巴尼大学研究生和本科生的教育和研究经历产生重大影响，使他们参与现代跨学科研究项目，从而改善他们在竞争激烈的全球市场中的未来职业前景。

This award by the MSN Chemistry Program supports work of Professor Marina A. Petrukhina at the University at Albany, SUNY, to explore multiple electron uptakes by bowl-shaped polyaromatic hydrocarbons (also known as buckybowls or fullerene fragments). In this program, buckybowls mapping onto the surfaces of fullerenes and representing the end-caps of nanotubes are utilized as effective models for a diverse range of carbon-rich nanosize materials, thus providing an excellent opportunity to study the redox properties of curved and strained pi-systems at the molecular level. Specifically, the effects of charging pi-bowls with multiple electrons on their molecular geometry, metal binding abilities and self-assembly will be broadly investigated. As a result, this program should improve our understanding of the redox behavior and electron transport of carbonaceous nanostructured materials. It should assist in elucidation of alkali metal ion intercalation in between non-planar pi-carbon surfaces, which is important for search and design of prospective carbon-based anode materials for Li-ion batteries. This fundamental program should overall advance the materials chemistry applications of curved carbon-rich polyarenes, including buckybowls, fullerenes, and nanotubes in several emerging fields ranging from electronics to energy storage. This program will also make its major impact on the enhancement of the educational and research experiences of graduate and undergraduate students at the University at Albany by engaging them into a modern cross-disciplinary research program, and thus improving their future career prospects in the highly competitive global marketplace.