SBIR Phase I: Large Scale Synthesis of Hollow Metal Nanospheres: Conversion of Batch Synthesis to Continuous Flow

这项小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力根植于开发大规模合成技术，用于制造高度均匀的空心金属纳米球，供军方在可能受污染的作战区域、医疗保健实验室有限的农村环境或农业领域使用，以便更快、更经济地检测较低水平的食物毒素和病原体。此外，在商业相关的质量和数量水平上建立这些下一代金属纳米颗粒的来源，并具有一致和可预测的性能，这将为它们扩展到其他行业铺平道路，这些行业也可以从它们的优势中受益，如光催化、水净化和光医学。这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）一期项目将把中空金属纳米颗粒的生产规模从现有的小批量合成扩大到大规模的连续流工艺，并对其尺寸、形状和光学响应进行严格的控制。迄今为止，尚未实现大规模合成高度均匀且尺寸可控的空心金属纳米球，阻碍了这些先进材料的使用和研究。一种高质量、大批量的生产方法将使空心金属纳米球在其明显优于固体纳米球的应用中迅速商业化，例如在横向流动分析（LFAs）的颜色报告中，空心金纳米球可以提供10倍的分析灵敏度提高。本研究的主要目标是确定基于连续流的高质量、高通量合成所需的参数，包括反应器材料、腔室尺寸、前体浓度、流速和反应时间。主要的技术障碍在于（在一个非常大的参数空间内）确定成功和受控的合成的合适条件；因此，该项目的一个主要组成部分是通过光谱学和电子显微镜对合成纳米颗粒进行深入分析和表征。表征结果将用于告知迭代反应器改进。由此产生的高通量反应器将推动纳米材料合成技术的发展，并通过创造具有可复制物理特性的持续供应的商业可用空心纳米颗粒来实现新的研究。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。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is rooted in the development of a large-scale synthesis for the manufacture of highly uniform hollow metal nanospheres for use by the military in potentially contaminated zones of operation, in rural settings with limited access to healthcare laboratories, or in the agricultural field for faster and more affordable detection of lower levels of food-based toxins and pathogens. Furthermore, establishing a source of these next-generation metal nanoparticles at commercially relevant levels of quality and quantity with consistent and predictable performance would pave the way for their expansion into other industries that could also benefit from their advantages, such as photocatalysis, water purification, and photomedicine.This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will scale-up the production of hollow metal nanoparticles from the existing small-batch syntheses to a large-scale continuous flow process, with strict standards for the control of their size, shape, and optical response. Large-scale synthesis of highly uniform hollow metal nanospheres with controllable size has not been achieved to date, hampering the use and study of these advanced materials. A high-quality, high-volume production method will position hollow metal nanospheres for rapid commercial adoption in applications where they markedly outperform their solid counterparts, such as in color reporting for lateral flow assays (LFAs), where hollow gold nanospheres can offer a 10-fold improvement in assay sensitivity. The primary objective of the proposed work is to determine the parameters necessary for a high-quality, high-throughput synthesis based on continuous flow, including reactor materials, chamber dimensions, precursor concentrations, flow rates, and reaction times. The major technical hurdle lies in the identification (within a very large parameter space) of suitable conditions for a successful and controlled synthesis; accordingly, a major component of this project is in-depth analysis and characterization of synthesized nanoparticles by optical spectroscopy and electron microscopy. Characterization results will be used to inform iterative reactor improvements. The resulting high throughput reactor will both advance the state of the art of nanomaterial synthesis and enable new research by creating a consistent supply of commercially available hollow nanoparticles with reproducible physical 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.