Reconfigurable Continuous Flow Reactor for Manufacturing of Complex Nanomaterials

该基金支持在制造新兴纳米材料（如量子点和纳米棒）方面产生新知识的研究。将材料制造得如此之小，以至于改变它们的尺寸和形状就能极大地改变它们的特性，这为从显示器到太阳能转换到医学成像的广泛应用铺平了新的道路。然而，这些材料通常是小批量生产，很容易导致质量变化和扩大规模的困难。随着纳米材料在附加功能方面变得越来越复杂，其制造和质量控制的困难迅速升级。连续流动反应器通过流动的流携带化学试剂，允许对反应参数进行严格控制的高通量制造。具有在线监测能力和可重构性的连续流反应器可用于制造各种高质量的纳米材料。该奖项允许基础研究使新兴复杂纳米材料的持续制造成为可能。从这个项目中获得的知识有助于加速能源、医疗和电子等各种行业的进步，从而促进国家的繁荣和安全。在这里要解决多方面的挑战，为参与的学生提供教育和培训机会，使他们更好地准备成为跨学科科学和工程领域的领导者。随着纳米尺度的多个组件被聚集在一起，以精确地设计它们的特性和行为，令人兴奋的新能力就会出现。然而，在纳米材料变得越来越复杂的情况下，可行的制造不仅要保证高结晶度和窄尺寸分散，还要保证形状和组成的均匀性，尽管每增加一种成分都会导致可能的产品数量呈指数级增长。该项目开发的具有原位光学测量能力的连续流反应器的模块化和可重构设计和结构，通过对形状、尺寸和成分的精确控制，有助于解决这些关键问题。包括使用实时产品监测的高通量筛选，可以更好地了解大量处理参数中的每一个如何影响单个颗粒和系综水平的成核和生长。该项目的成功将有助于建立基础知识，使各种复杂纳米材料的可扩展纳米制造成为可能，并对其结构和性能进行特殊控制。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。

This grant supports research that leads to new knowledge in the manufacture of emerging nanomaterials such a quantum dots and nanorods. The ability to make materials so small that changing their size and shape drastically alters their properties is paving new paths to a wide range of applications from displays to solar energy conversion to medical imaging. However, these materials are usually made in small batches that can easily lead to variations in quality and difficulties in scaling up. As nanomaterials become more complex for additional functionality, difficulties in their manufacture and quality control quickly escalate. Continuous flow reactors carry chemical reagents through a flowing stream, allowing for high-throughput fabrication with tight control over reaction parameters. Continuous flow reactors with inline monitoring capabilities and reconfigurability can lead to versatility in the manufacture of diverse range of nanomaterials with high quality. This award allows fundamental studies to enable continuous manufacture of emerging complex nanomaterials. The knowledge gained from this project helps to accelerate advances in a variety of industries including energy, medical and electronics, thus advancing national prosperity and security. Multi-faceted challenges to be tackled here provide educational and training opportunities for the students involved to be better prepared to become leaders in interdisciplinary science and engineering fields.As multiple components of nanometer dimensions are brought together for the precise engineering of their characteristics and behavior, exciting new capabilities arise. However, viable manufacturing of nanomaterials that are becoming increasingly complex must ensure not only high crystallinity and narrow size dispersion but also uniformity in shape and composition despite each added component leading to an exponentially increasing number of possible products. The modular and reconfigurable design and construction of a continuous flow reactor setup with in situ optical measurement capability, developed in this project, helps to address these critical issues by allowing precise control over shape, size, and composition. The inclusion of high-throughput screening using real-time product monitoring provides a better understanding of how each one of a vast number of processing parameters affects nucleation and growth at the individual particle and ensemble levels. The success of this project should help to establish foundational knowledge that enables scalable nanomanufacturing of a wide range of complex nanomaterials with exceptional control over their structure and properties.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.