Nanosheet-Biomolecular Hybrid Films Synthesis, Structure, and Controlled Release

二维材料是一类具有新特性的原子级薄片状固体。这些二维材料，或“纳米片”，可以以各种构型堆叠在一起，形成具有内部层状结构的宏观材料。这种宏观层状材料被用于新兴技术，包括用于个人防护设备的纺织屏障层、用于稳定或保护表面的涂层、药物输送贴片和植入式生物材料。这个项目试图通过结合生物活性分子来增强这些层状材料的功能。一个主要的焦点是测量和预测这些嵌入的生物分子被释放的速率，并在外表面和附近的流体相上变得活跃和起作用。这种控制释放可以用于制造长寿命的表面抗菌和抗病毒涂层，释放驱虫剂的纺织品层，或提供定时递送药物的生物材料。该研究将确定控制释放速率的方法，从而通过操纵合成和加工的方法来控制这些装置的有效寿命。研究小组还将参与一些活动，以激励和培养代表性不足的群体从事工程和科学方面的研究和职业。主要研究人员将与促进妇女、西班牙裔美国人和印第安人的工程职业选择和发展的社团合作，并将举办罗德岛科学日活动，为该州的小学高年级和中学部落青年提供参观、示范和实践活动，以介绍和促进科学和工程方面的机会。该项目将创建、表征和应用一套新的异质结构层状材料，这些材料具有活性的生物分子物种嵌入在堆叠的二维纳米片之间的范德华间隙中。这些前沿杂化体将原子薄纳米片的新特性与生物分子的靶向化学特异性功能结合在一起。该项目将继续研究分子释放动力学是由分子通过纳米通道扩散的内部运输过程控制的假设。纳米通道传输现象，以及分子从薄膜或宏观层状单体释放的时间、位置和方向的影响，目前还知之甚少。研究计划有三个目标：(1)合成并表征混合层状材料面板；(2)测量生物分子释放动力学，阐明释放机制，确定控制设计策略；(3)展示多功能二维杂交装置，并在抗菌和抗病毒功能的案例研究中表征其生化表面活性的动态表达。该项目的科学成果将包括一套新的混合材料及其结构和性能信息，第一个用于释放速率预测和控制的定量模型，以及通过基于模型的分子释放速率数据提取获得的一系列分子的纳米通道扩散系数值。调查小组还将开展教育外展活动，以激励和培养来自代表性不足群体的学生在科学和工程领域的学习和职业生涯。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。

Two-dimensional materials are a broad class of atomically thin, sheet-like solids with novel properties. These two-dimensional materials, or “nanosheets”, can be stacked together in various configurations to make macroscopic materials with internal layered structures. Such macroscopic layered materials find use in emerging technologies that include textile barrier layers for personal protective equipment, coatings to stabilize or protect surfaces, drug delivery patches and implantable biomaterials. This project seeks to enhance the functions of these layered materials by incorporating biologically active molecules to make hybrids. A major focus is to measure and predict the rates at which those imbedded biomolecules are released, and become active and functional on the outer surfaces and nearby fluid phases. This controlled release can be used to create long-lifetime antibacterial and antiviral coatings for surfaces, textile layers that release insect repellants, or biomaterials that provide timed delivery of drugs. The research will identify methods for controlling the release rate and thus controlling the active lifetime of these devices by manipulating the methods of synthesis and processing. The research team will also be engaged in activities that motivate and prepare underrepresented groups for studies and careers in engineering and science. The principal investigators will collaborate with societies promoting engineering career choices and advancement for women, Hispanics, and Native Americans and will host a Rhode Island Science Day event featuring tours, demonstrations and hands-on activities for upper elementary and middle school tribal youth in the state to introduce and promote opportunities in science and engineering. This project will create, characterize and apply a new set of hetero-structured layered materials with active biomolecular species intercalated in the van der Waals gaps between stacked two-dimensional nanosheets. These frontier hybrids combine the novel properties of atomically-thin nanosheets with the targeted, chemically specific functions of biomolecules. The project will pursue the hypothesis that molecular release kinetics are governed by internal transport processes involving molecular diffusion through nanochannels. Nanochannel transport phenomena are poorly understood, as are the implications for the timing, location, and direction of molecular release from films or macroscopic layered monoliths. The research plan has three Objectives: (1) to synthesize and characterize a panel of hybrid layered materials; (2) to measure biomolecular release kinetics and elucidate release mechanisms to identify design strategies for control; and (3) to demonstrate multifunctional 2D hybrid devices and characterize their dynamic expression of biochemical surface activity in case studies focused on antibacterial and antiviral function. Scientific outputs from this project will include a suite of new hybrid materials with information on their structures and properties, the first quantitative models for release rate prediction and control, and values of nanochannel diffusion coefficients for a range of molecules obtained by model-based extraction from molecular release rate data. The investigator team will also engage in educational outreach to motivate and prepare students from underrepresented groups for studies and careers in science and engineering.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.