Fundamental Insights into Direct Optical Lithography of Functional Inorganic Nanomaterials (DOLFIN)

芝加哥大学的Dmitri Talapin教授进行了一项研究，旨在开发新的化学反应，以制备能够简单而精确地制造发光设备(LED)和显示器的材料。其目标是消除单个组件的开发和实际应用程序中的集成之间的瓶颈。显示器和其他光学/电子设备代表着数十亿美元的市场，为这些行业提供新的通用制造平台的能力可能会产生重大的社会影响。这个项目帮助培养纳米科学、无机化学和材料工程之间的交叉学科的学生。此外，Talapin教授还与领导力联盟合作，招收少数族裔和代表性不足的本科生。该项目还支持为芝加哥南区代表不足的非裔美国人和西班牙裔K-12人口举办与纳米制造相关主题的互动式夏季讲习班。Talapin教授在美国国家科学基金会化学部高分子、超分子和纳米化学计划的支持下，扩展了一种直接光学光刻功能无机纳米材料(Dolfin)的新方法。该方法使用具有新型光化学活性表面配体的无机纳米晶。Dolfin工艺结合了光刻的多种优点，并针对无机纳米材料的高效图案化而量身定做，而不会用有机光刻胶和其他副产品稀释或污染它们。Dolfin旨在弥补缺乏高质量溶液处理电子材料的添加图案化的有效方法。使用这种技术可以形成图案的材料范围包括金属、半导体、氧化物和磁性或稀土组合物。该项目的目标包括开发用于纳米晶体的新的Dolfin配体，以扩大光子能量的范围并实现多色光刻。该团队研究了纳米晶体-配体组合中的光触发反应路径和激发态动力学，以揭示导致Dolfin分辨率和敏感性的过程。以纳米级分辨率直接构图功能性全无机层的能力为薄膜器件制造提供了另一条途径。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Professor Dmitri Talapin of the University of Chicago conducts research to develop new chemical reactions to prepare materials that enable simple and precise fabrication of light emitting devices (LEDs) and displays. The goal is to remove the bottleneck between the development of the individual components and the integration in real-world applications. Displays and other optical/electronic devices represent multibillion-dollar markets, and the ability to provide a new universal manufacturing platform for these industries may have significant societal impact. This project helps train students at the interdisciplinary interface of nanoscience, inorganic chemistry, and materials engineering. Furthermore, Professor Talapin partners with the Leadership Alliance to recruit minority and underrepresented undergraduate students. This project also supports interactive summer workshops on nanomanufacturing-related topics for local underrepresented African-American and Hispanic K-12 populations on Chicago's South Side. Professor Talapin is supported by the Macromolecular, Supramolecular, and Nanochemistry Program of the NSF Division of Chemistry to expand upon a new method for direct optical lithography of functional inorganic nanomaterials (DOLFIN). This method uses inorganic nanocrystals with novel photochemically-active surface ligands. The DOLFIN process combines multiple benefits of photolithography and is tailored toward efficient patterning of inorganic nanomaterials without diluting or contaminating them with organic photoresists and other byproducts. DOLFIN is meant to remedy the lack of efficient methods for high-quality additive patterning of solution-processed electronic materials. The range of materials that can be patterned using this technique includes metals, semiconductors, oxides, and magnetic or rare earth compositions. The project goals include the development of new DOLFIN ligands for nanocrystals to expand the range of photon energies and enable multicolor lithography. The team investigates optically triggered reaction pathways and excited-state dynamics in nanocrystal-ligand combinations to reveal the processes responsible for DOLFIN's resolution and sensitivity. The ability to directly pattern functional all-inorganic layers with nanoscale resolution provides an alternate route for thin-film device manufacturing.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.