CAREER: Manufacturing Semiconducting Nanoparticles at the Aerosol/Vapor-Phase Interface

强大的能源储存对我们国家的未来至关重要。制造具有高电子导电性和高储能容量的储能半导体纳米材料，可以转化为拥有更大“油箱”的电池，对美国经济至关重要。目前制造用于储能应用的有机纳米颗粒的最新技术产生低电子导电性的颗粒，导致储能性能差。在纳米材料中，有机半导体纳米粒子对电池特别有吸引力，因为它们的溶液处理特性使这些粒子的成本效益得以实现。该学院早期职业发展（Career）奖支持基础研究，通过研究气溶胶形成和气相化学的相互作用，寻求利用气溶胶工艺实现有机纳米颗粒的规模化生产。这项研究将确定控制合成途径所需的联合运输和化学动力学，以控制气溶胶基合成中高导电性颗粒的组成和大小。这些新的合成途径的成功开发将通过降低设备中的能量存储成本和开发用于运输应用的轻质电池来影响能量存储技术。综合教育计划将通过领导以项目为基础的研究气溶胶科学的讲习班，为未被充分代表的高中生、本科生和研究生提供科学、工程、数学和技术方面的职业培训。制造下一代电池活性材料需要开发具有规模经济竞争力的合成技术。关于促进水滴气溶胶和进行氧化自由基聚合的有机分子蒸气之间的反应性的分子变量和实验条件的知识缺乏。本研究旨在通过研究水滴气溶胶在流动反应器中伴随的蒸汽基聚合的产生和干燥，发现能够控制聚合动力学和反应机制的分子相关性。这项研究产生的数据将为每天生产公斤级有机半导体纳米粒子的生产方案提供信息。该项目将研究使用Fe2O3、V2O5、Nb2O5和MnO2制备有机和无机组分之间具有密切电子接触的有机-无机纳米颗粒复合材料。本研究旨在：1)了解气溶胶水滴/蒸汽界面的机理，确定导致高电子导电性的稳态聚合动力学；2)研究反应条件下水滴悬浮气溶胶的停留时间，设计具有长共轭长度和高结晶度的纳米颗粒；3)探索合成条件，调整反应物蒸汽的质量传输，以触发快速聚合和高通量批量处理。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。

Robust energy storage is critical for our nation’s future. Manufacturing semiconductor nanomaterials for energy storage possessing high electronic conductivity and high energy storage capacity could translate into batteries possessing larger “fuel tanks” and is critical to the US economy. The current state-of-the-art in manufacturing of organic nanoparticles for energy storage applications produces particles of low electronic conductivity resulting in poor energy storage performance. Among nanomaterials, organic semiconducting nanoparticles are especially attractive for batteries due to solution processing properties that enable cost-effective implementation of these particles. This Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award supports fundamental research seeking to enable scalable production of organic nanoparticles using an aerosol process through investigation of the interplay of aerosol formation and vapor phase chemistry. This research will determine the combined transport and chemical kinetics needed to control the synthetic pathways for the manufacturing of highly conductive particles in aerosol-based synthesis with controlled composition and size. The successful development of these new synthetic pathways would impact energy storage technologies by lowering costs for energy storage in devices and enabling development of light-weight batteries for transportation applications. The integrated educational program will contribute to the training of underrepresented high school, undergraduate and graduate students for careers in science, engineering, mathematics, and technology by leading project-based workshops that study aerosol science.Manufacturing the next generation of active materials for batteries will require developing synthetic technologies competitive in an economy of scale. There is a lack of knowledge regarding molecular variables and experimental conditions that promote reactivity between aerosols of water droplets and vapors of organic molecules undergoing oxidative radical polymerization. This research aims to discover molecular correlations that enable control of polymerization kinetics and reaction mechanisms by investigating production and desiccation of water droplet aerosols with concomitant vapor-based polymerization within a flow reactor. Data produced by this research will inform manufacturing protocols that lead to kilogram-per-day production of organic semiconducting nanoparticles. This project will investigate organic-inorganic nanoparticle composites using Fe2O3, V2O5, Nb2O5, and MnO2 to produce particles characterized by intimate electronic contact between organic and inorganic components. This research aims to: 1) achieve mechanistic understanding at the aerosol water droplet/vapor interface to pinpoint steady-state polymerization kinetics responsible for high electronic conductivity, 2) investigate residence time of suspended aerosols of water droplets under reaction conditions to design nanoparticles possessing long conjugation length and high crystallinity, and 3) probe synthetic conditions that tailor mass transport of reactant vapors to trigger rapid polymerization and high throughput batch processing.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.