Determination of Activation Barriers for the Adsorption and Desorption of Self-Assembling Organic Molecules onto Gold and Graphite from Organic Solvents.

电子设备在人类生活中扮演着越来越重要的角色。未来的电子器件不仅包含硅等无机材料，还包含有机材料。虽然无机成分提供耐用性和良好的导电性，但有机成分提供了通过合成改性轻松廉价地调整其性能的潜力。然而，创造结合这两种不同类型材料的设备面临着几个挑战。有机层必须在分子水平上构造，以提供所需的电子和光子特性，有机和无机部分之间必须形成连接，使电子容易通过界面。在化学系大分子、超分子和纳米化学（MSN）项目的支持下，华盛顿州立大学的k·w·希普斯教授正在使用精密的显微镜来观察单个分子，研究决定无机表面上有机分子排列顺序的因素。该项目的发现可能会影响从电子到传感器开发和催化等领域的应用。这项研究还为各级未来的研究人员提供了培训机会，从而促进了国家科学技术劳动力的发展。希普斯教授积极接触当地高中，让学生参与STEM领域的继续教育。Hipps教授和他的学生正在使用表面等离子体共振和高分辨率扫描隧道显微镜的组合来理解和预测决定自组装二维有机薄膜结构的热力学和动力学因素。该项目的重点是由常用的有机单体、无机底物和溶剂形成的薄膜，目的是确定与溶液-固体界面上单体的吸附和解吸相关的活化能和熵。分子动力学模拟提供了深入了解溶剂，温度和压力在薄膜形成中的作用。从实验和模拟的观察结果被用于动力学模型的发展，这些模型描述了分子从自组装层的吸附和解吸的各个阶段。此外，该项目还为本科生、研究生和博士后提供混合电子设备科学方面的教育，同时向当地学校介绍单分子科学和技术。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Electronic devices are playing an ever-increasing role in human life. Future electronic devices will contain not only inorganic materials, such as silicon, but also organic materials. While the inorganic components provide durability and well understood electrical conduction, the organic components offer the potential to easily and inexpensively tune their properties through synthetic modification. However, creating devices that combine these two different types of materials faces several challenges. The organic layer must be structured at the molecular level to provide the desired electronic and photonic properties, and the junction between the organic and inorganic parts must be formed to make it easy for electrons to pass across the interface. With support from the Macromolecular, Supramolecular and Nanochemistry (MSN) program in the Division of Chemistry, Professor K. W. Hipps at Washington State University is using sophisticated microscopies that can see individual molecules to study the factors that determine the ordering of organic molecules on inorganic surfaces. The discoveries from the project could impact applications ranging from electronics to sensor development, and catalysis. The research also provides training opportunities for future researchers at all levels, and is thus contributing to development of the national workforce in science and technology. Professor Hipps actively reaches out to local high schools and engages students in continued education in STEM fields. Professor Hipps and his students are using a combination of surface plasmon resonance and high-resolution scanning tunneling microscopy to understand and predict the thermodynamic and kinetic factors that determine the structure of self-assembled 2-D organic films. The project's focus is on films formed from commonly used organic monomers, inorganic substrates and solvents, with the goal of determining the activation energies and entropies associated with adsorption and desorption of monomers at the solution-solid interface. Molecular dynamics simulations provide insight into the role of solvent, temperature, and pressure in film formation. Observations from experiment and simulation are used in the development of kinetic models that describe the various stages of the adsorption and desorption of molecules from the self-assembled layer. In addition, the project is educating undergraduates, graduate students and post-doctoral associates in the science of hybrid electronic devices, while outreach to local schools introduces high-school students to single-molecule science and technology.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.