CAREER: Structural and Functional Mimics of Colloidal Quantum Dot Surfaces

通过该奖项，大分子、超分子和纳米化学项目以及化学系化学结构和动力学b项目将资助马萨诸塞州大学阿默斯特分校的Kevin Kittilstved教授进行基础研究，以更好地理解纳米级半导体的特性。这些材料在发光设备和显示技术中具有潜在的用途。此外，Kittilstved教授正在与地区社区学院建立新的合作伙伴关系，并加强现有的教育项目，旨在提高STEM领域代表性不足的少数族裔的保留率。该职业奖将为来自春田技术社区学院（Springfield Technical Community College）的未被充分代表的新兴STEM学者和参加Eureka！霍利奥克女孩公司的项目。本研究的长期目标是深入了解半导体纳米晶体表面缺陷的形成方式。这个职业项目的重点是阐明金属离子交换反应的热力学和动力学的杂质到锌和镉-（硫族化物）-苯echalcogenolate团簇使用一系列的光谱和分析技术。具体目标是：(1)确定目标取代化学缺陷对不同尺寸团簇形成动力学和热力学的影响；(2)研究掺杂团簇及相关掺杂胶体半导体纳米晶体的电子结构；(3)通过夏季研究机会，增加指导、建议和网络，扩大未被充分代表的少数族裔在化学和STEM本科课程中的参与度，提高他们的保留率。

With this award, the Macromolecular, Supramolecular and Nanochemistry Program and the Chemical Structure and Dynamics-B Program of the Division of Chemistry are funding Prof. Kevin Kittilstved of the University of Massachusetts-Amherst to conduct fundamental research toward better understanding the properties of nanoscale semiconductors. These are potentially useful in light-emitting devices and display technologies. In addition, Prof. Kittilstved is developing new partnerships with regional community colleges and strengthening existing educational programs aiming at increasing the retention rates of underrepresented minorities in the STEM fields. This CAREER award will provide summer research opportunities for underrepresented rising STEM scholars from Springfield Technical Community College and female students who participate in the Eureka! Program of Girls Inc. of Holyoke. The long term goal of this research is to gain a thorough understanding of how defects form on the surfaces of semiconductor nanocrystals. This CAREER project focuses on elucidating the thermodynamics and kinetics of the metal ion exchange reactions of impurities into zinc and cadmium-(chalcogenide)-benzenechalcogenolate clusters using a range of spectroscopic and analytical techniques. The specific objectives are: (1) to determine the effect of targeted, substitutional chemical defects on the formation kinetics and thermodynamics of the clusters of varying sizes; (2) to study the electronic structure of impurity-doped clusters and related impurity-doped colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals; and (3) to broaden the participation and increase the retention rates of underrepresented minorities in the chemistry and STEM undergraduate curriculum through summer research opportunities, and increased mentoring, advising and networking.