BRITE Relaunch: Manufacturing Multilayers of Molecularly-Bonded Inorganic Nanointerfaces for Accessing and Tuning Novel Properties

该奖项由2021年美国救援计划法案提供全部或部分资金（公法117-2）.纳米复合材料--其结合联合收割机两种或更多种不同的材料，其中至少一种材料具有100 nm或更小的尺寸--无处不在，并且对于各种各样的应用是至关重要的，所述应用的范围从汽车、飞行器和航天器、建筑物、运动设备、旅行包装、能源设备和电子产品。 可以控制纳米复合材料中每种材料的比例，以产生具有与原始组分中的每种不同的性质的复合材料。 一个突出的目标是生产一种既轻质又具有高机械强度的材料。纳米复合材料还可以产生在单个成分中看不到的非凡的电学或硬度特性。这个促进工程变革和公平进步的研究思路（BRITE）重新启动项目旨在扩大纳米复合材料设计和合成的界限，重点关注这些电气和硬度特性。 该项目将推进这些纳米复合材料的制造过程，扩展与这些材料的表征相关的知识和技术，并开发结构变化和性能之间关系的模型，以便通过制造过程对其进行预测和控制。 所获得的知识将支持一组新的纳米复合材料的设计和制造，这些纳米复合材料具有传统纳米复合材料或天然生物材料无法获得的特性。 这项研究将直接使研究生和本科生与美国和瑞典的理论家和实验家进行多种丰富的合作。这项工作的结果将增强现有的本科生和研究生电子性能、材料表征和高级结构课程。K-12推广工作将包括：与高中学生和教师互动;支持来自社会代表性不足的学生，鼓励他们在STEM相关领域建立职业生涯。将组件材料混合在特定配置中，可以获得在单个材料中无法实现的属性组合，并且属性增强通常由简单的混合规则管理。 研究工作涉及界面科学，分子工程材料发现和纳米制造的合并。总体目标是建立一个平台，用于制造一种全新的高界面分数多层纳米材料，其中无机纳米层与有机纳米层粘合，以实现超出混合物规则的不寻常特性。这包括具有巨磁阻和超硬度的材料。这样的结构提供了新的可能性，以访问，放大和调谐来自多个纳米胶合界面的叠加效应的新特性，甚至实现界面特性成为材料特性的场景。制造这种具有前所未有的界面主导特性的纳米复合材料预计将产生变革性影响，并扩大各种新兴技术的前沿。具体而言，该项目将：通过混合原子/分子层沉积技术合成纳米胶无机多层膜，用于不同的纳米胶结构和化学性质;表征混合多层膜的热，化学和微观结构稳定性;挖掘纳米胶结构和化学的不同方面以及无机层特征对机械和电气性能的影响;并开发纳米颗粒诱导的性能增强模型，以实现新的性能组合。该研究结果有望为材料设计和制造开辟新的前景，超越混合物规则，超越晶体学约束的无机-有机杂化材料，促进合成材料和当前材料无法获得的性能。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).Nanocomposites – which combine two or more distinct materials where at least one of the materials has dimensions of 100 nm or less – are everywhere and are crucial for a wide variety of applications, ranging from automobiles, aircrafts and spacecrafts, buildings, sports equipment, travel packaging, to energy devices and electronics. The proportion of each material in a nanocomposite can be controlled to produce a composite material with properties that differ from each of the original components. A prominent goal is a combination that produces a material that is both lightweight and has high mechanical strength. Nanocomposites can also lead to extraordinary electrical or hardness properties that are not seen in the individual constituents. This Boosting Research Ideas for Transformative and Equitable Advances in Engineering (BRITE) Relaunch project aims to expand the boundaries of nanocomposite design and synthesis with a focus on these electrical and hardness properties. This project will advance the manufacturing process for these nanocomposites, expand knowledge and techniques related to the characterization of these materials, and develop models for the relationship between the structural variations and the properties so that they can be predicted and controlled through the manufacturing process. The knowledge gained will support the design and manufacturing of a new group of nanocomposites with properties that cannot be obtained from either conventional nanocomposites or natural biomaterials. This research will directly expose graduate and undergraduate students to multiple enriching collaborations with theorists and experimentalists in the USA and Sweden. Results from this work will enhance existing undergraduate and graduate courses on electronic properties, materials characterization and advanced structure. K-12 outreach efforts will include: engaging with high-school students and teachers; and supporting students from underrepresented sections of the society to encourage them to build careers in STEM-related fields.Mixing component materials in specific configurations allows access to property combinations that are not realized in individual materials, and the property enhancements are generally governed by the simple rules of mixtures. The researched work involves a merger of interface science, molecularly-engineered materials discovery, and nanomanufacturing. The overarching goal is to establish a platform for the manufacture of a completely new class of high-interface-fraction multilayered nanomaterials with inorganic nanolayers glued with organic nanolayers to realize unusual properties beyond the rules of mixtures. This includes materials with giant magnetoresistance and superhardness. Such structures offer new possibilities to access, amplify and tune novel properties from superposition of effects from multiple nanoglued interfaces, and even realize a scenario wherein the interface properties become the materials’ properties. Manufacturing such nanocomposites with unprecedented interface-dominated properties is anticipated to transformatively impact and expand the frontiers of a diversity of emergent technologies. Specifically, this project will: synthesize nanoglued inorganic multilayers by hybrid atomic/molecular layer deposition techniques for different nanoglue structures and chemistries; characterize the thermal, chemical, and microstructural stability of the hybrid multilayers; unearth the effects of different facets of nanoglue structure and chemistry, and inorganic layer features, on mechanical and electrical properties; and develop models of nanoglue-induced property-enhancements to enable the realization of novel property combinations. The results are anticipated to open up new vistas for materials design and manufacturing beyond rule of mixtures, transcend crystallographically-constrained inorganic-organic hybrid materials, and facilitate synthetic materials and properties that are not accessible in current materials.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.