Tailoring the Nanophotonic and Nanoelectronic Properties of Nanometals using Oxide-Directed Syntheses

在化学系大分子、超分子和纳米化学项目的支持下，圣母大学的Svetlana Neretina博士将通过空间注册研究如何使用氧化物控制金属纳米颗粒在衬底上的生长。对金属纳米粒子生长机制的理解的提高有望导致新的纳米结构模板的合成策略，这些策略可用于活性等离子体、纳米电子学和手性等离子体。Neretina博士积极参与了建筑桥梁指导计划和先进女性领袖计划，以及几个专注于开发实验室内高中研究项目的外展活动。这些活动为Neretina博士和她的团队提供了机会，让他们积极参与标准课程通常没有涵盖的领域。这项研究涉及液态种子介体化学的发展，用于合成芯片上的金属纳米结构，这些结构响应撞击氧化物施加的合成控制。利用氧化物沿着确定性的路径引导水平Au纳米线的生长轨迹，该路径在与电极相遇时自动终止，在充满液体的氧化物胶囊内限制等离子体纳米结构，由此产生的迁移率使其对外部施加的刺激做出反应，并在液体介质中选择性地反应。这种方法建立在通过胶体合成获得的传统化学控制和物理控制的基础上，当生长中的金属遇到牢牢固定在衬底表面的化学惰性氧化物屏障时，可以获得物理控制。通过利用氧化物的合成不活性和被动行为来施加与纳米金属合成相关的自然倾向相反或受挫的空间位阻，研究团队寻求产生通常无法获得的反应产物。这项工作将利用一种合成策略产生的现有能力，在合成策略中，种子介导的胶体生长模式在固定底物的种子的周期性阵列上进行。总体而言，这项研究试图发展氧化物导向的基于溶液的化学，目标是形成具有定制的纳米电子和纳米光子特性的纳米材料的有序表面。将这种构建具有定制特性的有组织表面的方法减少到实践中可能会产生广泛的科学影响。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。

With the support of the Macromolecular, Supramolecular, and Nanochemistry Program in the Division of Chemistry, Dr. Svetlana Neretina of the University of Notre Dame will investigate how oxides can be used to control the growth of metal nanoparticles on substrates with spatial registration. Improvements in the understanding of metal nanoparticle growth mechanisms are expected to result in new synthetic strategies for nanostructure templating that could be exploited for applications in active plasmonics, nanoelectronics, and chiral plasmonics. Dr. Neretina is actively involved in the Building Bridges Mentoring Program and the Advancing Women Leaders Program as well several outreach initiatives that focus on the development of in-lab high school research projects. These activities open up opportunities for Dr. Neretina and her group to actively engage students in areas that are not typically covered in standard curricula.This research involves the advancement of a liquid-state seed-mediated chemistry for the syntheses of on-chip metal nanostructures that are responsive to the synthetic controls imposed by an impinging oxide. Oxides that steer horizontal Au nanowire growth trajectories along deterministic pathways that self-terminate upon an encounter with an electrode, confine plasmonic nanostructures within liquid-filled oxide capsules where their resulting mobility makes them responsive to externally applied stimuli, and selectively react in liquid media are exploited. This approach builds on traditional chemical controls that are accessible through colloidal syntheses and physical controls that are obtainable when a growing metal encounters a chemically inert oxide barrier that is firmly affixed to the substrate surface. By exploiting the synthetic inactivity and passive behavior of oxides to impose steric barriers that act in opposition to or frustrate the natural tendencies associated with nanometal syntheses, the research team seeks to produce reaction products that are typically unobtainable. The work will leverage existing capabilities stemming from a synthetic strategy in which seed-mediated colloidal growth modes are practiced on periodic arrays of substrate immobilized seeds. Overall, this research seeks to develop oxide-directed solution-based chemistry that targets the formation of organized surfaces of nanomaterials with tailored nanoelectronic and nanophotonic properties. Reduction to practice of such an approach to constructing organized surfaces with tailored properties would likely have broad scientific impact.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.