Bimodal Ligand Architectures for (Nano)particle Assembly Structures with Increased Strength and Fracture Resistance

当物质以“纳米材料”的形式被限制在一个非常小的体积中时，新的物理性质就会出现。例如，纳米材料已被证明具有可调谐的光学、电子或磁性，可以改变从储能和发电、电子产品、化学工业过程或医疗诊断等技术。然而，由于目前对纳米粒子如何相互作用的基本知识，制造出纳米粒子的产品或设备仍然很困难。纳米材料加工的困难对其在新型纳米材料技术中的工业应用构成了障碍。该奖项支持基础研究，为纳米材料的制造提供所需的知识，这些纳米材料可以很容易地加工成相关的技术形式。该研究涉及颗粒表面的开发和修改，使颗粒形成更强和抗断裂的材料产品。与pa的一家初创公司合作，这种新的纳米材料组件将通过制造对下一代有源显示器很重要的发光板来利用和测试。该项目将扩大少数民族学生的参与，并为纳米技术关键领域的一名研究生和几名本科生提供跨学科培训，这对确保美国未来的创新和经济实力具有关键的战略意义。将纳米颗粒组装成固体组装结构，通常被称为“颗粒固体”，在将纳米颗粒系统集成到从光伏到固态照明等应用的器件架构中起着核心作用。自组装颗粒固体结构可扩展生产的主要障碍是颗粒固体的脆性，在颗粒组件的加工和集成过程中会促进裂纹的形成。该项目的目标是验证这样一种假设，即双峰聚合物配体的接枝为具有高无机含量和显著增强的机械性能和可加工性的颗粒固体提供了一条途径。该研究计划分为三个后续研究重点，将依次集中于(1)合成双峰聚合物系链颗粒模型系统库，(2)阐明双峰刷组成和链不对称对颗粒固体力学和结构特性的影响，(3)将双峰电刷方法扩展到量子点（QD）体系中，以增强结构控制，促进聚合物嵌入量子点异质结构的无溶剂形成。将双峰电刷粒子的概念推广到量子点固体，将检验结果的普遍性，并为量子点/聚合物复合技术的未来发展奠定基础。

When matter is confined to a very small volume in the form of "nanomaterials", novel physical properties emerge. For example, nanomaterials have been shown to exhibit tunable optical, electronic or magnetic properties that could transform technologies ranging from energy storage and generation, electronic products, chemical industrial processes or medical diagnostics. It is still difficult, however, to fabricate products or devices out of nanoparticles due to the present rudimentary knowledge of how nanoparticles interact. This difficulty in processing nanomaterials presents a barrier to their industrial utilization in new nanomaterial technologies. This award supports fundamental research to provide the needed knowledge for the fabrication of nanomaterials that can be readily processed into technology relevant form. The research involves the development and modification of particle surfaces that allow particles to form stronger and fracture resistant material products. In collaboration with a PA-based start-up company, such new nanomaterial assemblies will be utilized and tested through the fabrication of luminescent panels that are important for next-generation active displays. The program will broaden the participation of minority students and provide cross-disciplinary training for one graduate and several undergraduate students in the critical area of nanotechnology that is of key strategic relevance for securing the future innovativeness and economic strength of the US. The assembly of nanoparticles into solid assembly structures, which are often referred to as "particle solids", plays a central role in the integration of nanoparticle systems into device architectures for applications ranging from photovoltaics to solid state lighting. A major barrier in the scalable production of self-assembled particle solid structures is the brittle nature of particle solids that promotes crack formation during the processing and integration of particle assemblies. The goal of this project is to test the hypothesis that that the grafting of bimodal polymeric ligands provides a path towards particle solids with high inorganic content and significantly enhanced mechanical properties and processibility. The research plan is organized into three subsequent research thrusts that will successively focus on (1) the synthesis of a library of bimodal polymer-tethered particle model systems, (2) the elucidation of the effect of bimodal brush composition and chain asymmetry on the mechanical and structural characteristics of particle solids, and (3) the extension of the bimodal brush approach to quantum dot (QD) systems to facilitate the solventless forming of polymer-embedded quantum dot heterostructures with enhanced structural control. The extension of the bimodal brush particle concept to QD-solids will test the generalizability of results and provide a foundation for the future development of QD/polymer-composite technologies.