Chemically Functionalized Nanoscale Materials: Building Functional Polymers for Nanoscale Materials and Interfaces

半导体纳米结构可以由许多不同类型的材料制成。它们也有许多不同的形状和大小，其尺寸可以比一张纸薄10万倍。这些极其微小的晶体的独特性质在可穿戴传感器、柔性电子产品、太阳能电池和个性化医疗等新兴科学和技术中产生了越来越大的影响。然而，寻找方法将这些不同的结构组合成电子活性材料仍然是一个重要的挑战。在化学学部大分子、超分子和纳米化学项目的支持下，马萨诸塞大学阿默斯特分校的Todd Emrick教授和他的学生们正在制造合成聚合物，这种聚合物可以将纳米结构连接在一起，使它们之间的电荷传输变得容易。他们的发现可能会带来更高效的设备，从灵活的移动太阳能电池到性能更快、重量更轻的电子产品。该项目为不同的研究人员提供教育和培训，包括从事博士研究的研究生，获得首次研究经验的本科生，以及参加学徒计划的高中生，该计划将增加STEM（科学，技术，工程和数学）领域的年轻研究人员的机会。该项目正在研究合成聚合物的新方法，这些聚合物具有增强其接触材料的电子活性的功能，特别关注两性离子和带电基团。这些聚合物被研究为电子活性衬底（如过渡金属二硫族化合物（TMDC）纳米结构）上的涂层（厚度从5到100 nm），以及钙钛矿纳米颗粒上的配体，促进界面接触，提高电子接触的寿命和稳定性。通过强调共轭聚合物两性离子（CPZs）和无金属聚合方法，本研究正在制备具有化学性质的材料，这些材料非常适合集成到定义良好的超薄界面层和坚固的多层结构中。这些合成聚合物化学设计在涉及软材料的结构-性能关系方面产生了新的知识，包括cpz内带电部分的位置和方向的影响，这些影响决定了它们的界面接触。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。

Semiconductor nanostructures can be created from many different types of materials. They also come in many different shapes and sizes, with dimensions that can be 100,000 times thinner than a sheet of paper. The unique properties of these extremely tiny crystals have growing impact in the emerging science and technology of wearable sensors, flexible electronics, solar cells, and personalized medicine. However, finding ways to combine these different structures into electronically active materials remains an important challenge. With support from the Macromolecular, Supramolecular, and Nanochemistry Program in the Division of Chemistry, Professor Todd Emrick and his students at the University of Massachusetts Amherst are creating synthetic polymers that link nanostructures together, enabling easy transport of charges between them. Their discoveries could lead to more efficient devices, ranging from flexible, mobile solar cells to faster performing, lighter weight electronics. The project provides education and training to a diverse population of researchers, including graduate students engaged in Ph.D. research, undergraduates gaining their first research experiences, and high school students participating in an apprenticeship program that will increase opportunities for young researchers in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) fields.The project is investigating new approaches to synthesizing polymers containing functionality that enhances the electronic activity of the materials they contact, focusing especially on zwitterionic and charged groups. These polymers are investigated as coatings (from 5 to 100 nm thickness) on electronically active substrates, such as transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDC) nanostructures, and as ligands on perovskite nanoparticles, facilitating interfacial contact and improving the lifetime and stability of electronic contact. By emphasizing conjugated polymer zwitterions (CPZs) and metal-free polymerization methods, this study is preparing materials with chemistry that is ideally suited for integration into well-defined ultrathin interfacial layers and robust multilayer structures. These synthetic polymer chemistry designs are producing new knowledge in structure-property relationships involving soft materials, including the effect of the position and orientation of the charged moieties within CPZs that dictate their interfacial contact.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.