DMREF: Exploring multi-functional molecular electronic materials

化学系和材料研究部的设计材料革命性和工程我们的未来(DMREF)项目获得这一奖项，资助佛罗里达大学的郑海平教授、George Christou教授和张晓光教授研究如何制造尺寸尽可能小的磁性材料。磁性材料对电子工业非常重要，设备小型化的持续趋势使得开发更小的磁体变得至关重要。该团队正在研究所谓的单分子磁体；这些单个分子具有磁体的功能，但比传统磁性材料的分子要小。该团队正在使用先进的计算方法来预测哪些结构将产生最佳的磁性，他们还在研究如何将单分子磁体附着在表面上，以引入对这些材料在新技术中的潜在使用至关重要的某些效果。该项目为参与的研究生和博士后研究人员提供多学科培训，通过佛罗里达大学的暑期学生培训计划为高中生提供研究机会，并通过包括“购物中心化学日”在内的活动向公众推广。程教授领导的团队从第一性原理计算中证明，小分子或纳米团簇的量子电容取决于其磁性或几何构型。在这个项目中，他们现在专注于合成具有不同配体的高核度羧酸锰簇，并将其结构与团簇的自电容和从低自旋态到高自旋态转变所需的磁场相关联。该小组正在使用第一性原理计算来预测改变羧基配体对高核度锰团簇的磁态的影响，以及载体表面(例如氮化硼)对这些团簇的磁性和电子性质的影响。这些体系正在合成中，各种扫描隧道显微镜、光谱和电化学研究正在被用来表征纳米团簇的“荷电”特性。通过搜索分子/簇、配体和支持底物这三个基本的“基因”，该小组正在量化和描述不同的组合如何影响性能，并找到产生最大效果和最适合应用的最佳组合。

With this award, the Designing Materials to Revolutionize and Engineer our Future (DMREF) Program of the Division of Chemistry and the Division of Materials Research is funding Professors Hai-Ping Cheng, George Christou, and Xiaoguang Zhang at the University of Florida to study how to make magnetic materials with some of the smallest dimensions possible. Magnetic materials are important for the electronics industry and the ongoing trend towards miniaturization of devices, has made the development of ever-smaller magnets essential. The team is studying what are termed single-molecule magnets; these are individual molecules that function as magnets yet are smaller than those of traditional magnetic materials. The team is using advanced computational methods to predict which structures will yield the optimal magnetic properties and they are also studying ways to attach the single-molecule magnets to a surface to introduce certain effects crucial to the potential use of these materials in new technologies. The project is providing multi-disciplinary training to the participating graduate students and postdoctoral researchers, research opportunities for high school students through the University of Florida's Summer Student Training Program, and outreach to the general public through the including "Chemistry Day at the Mall" activity.The team led by Professor Cheng has demonstrated from first-principles calculations that the quantum capacitance of a small molecule or nanocluster depends upon its magnetic or geometric configuration. In this project they are now focusing on synthesizing high nuclearity manganese carboxylate clusters with various ligands and correlating the structures with the self-capacitance of the clusters and the magnetic field needed for a low-spin state to a high-spin state transition. The group is using first-principles calculations to predict the effects of changing carboxylate ligands on the magnetic states of high nuclearity manganese clusters and the effects of support surfaces (e.g. boron nitride) on the magnetic and electronic properties of these clusters. The systems are being synthesized, and various scanning tunneling microscopy, spectroscopic and electrochemical studies are being used to characterize the "charging" properties of the nanoclusters. By searching through the three basic "genes," the molecule/cluster, the ligands, and the supporting substrate, the group is quantifying and characterizing how different combinations impact properties, and finding the best combination that produces the largest effect and is most suitable for applications.