CCI Phase I: NSF Center for Single-Entity Nanochemistry and Nanocrystal Design

NSF单一实体纳米化学和纳米晶体设计中心(C-SENND)由化学部化学创新中心(CCI)计划支持。这个一期中心由印第安纳大学的Sara Skrabalak领导。其他成员包括印第安纳大学的叶星辰，以及德克萨斯农工大学的莱恩·贝克和辛燕，德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校的格雷姆·亨克尔曼，以及坦普尔大学的凯瑟琳·威利茨。纳米尺度的晶体，即纳米晶体，在我们经济的几乎所有部门都有应用。它们的效用来自于获得依赖于其晶体大小和形状的新特性的能力。这种对尺寸和形状的强烈依赖为发现具有有用性能的新纳米晶体提供了充足的机会。然而，由于纳米晶体样品本质上是异质的，这一发现过程也非常具有挑战性，需要对样品中的纳米晶体进行单独分析。从概念上讲，这一挑战类似于药物发现和设计，在那里有一个很大的实验空间，必须从那里识别一个有希望的目标。在过去的几十年里，高通量筛选和基于阵列的分析改变了这一过程，缩短了从识别目标到产生铅的时间。受概念相似性的启发，C-SENND将把类似的策略应用于单纳米晶体分析，以创建科学工具包和化学知识，以转变具有特殊性能的铅纳米晶体的发现，应用于化学传感和催化。研究将在包容的环境中进行，并实施建立学生自我效能感的专业发展活动。C-SENND的更广泛影响强调科学家和艺术家之间的合作，通过非正式环境中的公共艺术传播科学内容。C-SENND将在第一阶段实现两个目标。首先，该团队将把基于阵列的技术与单纳米晶体测量相结合，用于高通量性质筛选和金属纳米晶体库中的铅识别。这项工作将利用用于纳米晶库生成的电化学筛选系统和用于高通量读出用于化学传感和催化的纳米晶体特性的光学方法，为新纳米晶体的模型测试和指导设计提供大量的单晶数据。其次，该团队将开发单纳米晶方法，建立纳米晶结构与电化学响应之间的关系，实现在单个纳米晶催化剂水平上的产品识别和量化的突破。这一努力将通过将单纳米晶体催化剂的电化学成像与质谱学(ECI-MS)相结合来实现。展望第二阶段，我们展望了AIMS的融合，基于阵列的纳米晶库生成平台与ECI-MS配对，为快速筛选用于纳米晶体发现和设计的单纳米晶电催化剂提供了一个独特的平台。总的来说，C-SENND旨在改变化学界对纳米晶体异质性的看法，将这种异质性视为发现的资产，而不是被抑制的有害因素。这一奖项反映了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。

The NSF Center for Single-Entity Nanochemistry and Nanocrystal Design (C-SENND) is supported by the Centers for Chemical Innovation (CCI) Program in the Division of Chemistry. This Phase I Center is led by Sara Skrabalak of Indiana University. Other team members include Xingchen Ye, also of Indiana University, as well as Lane Baker and Xin Yan of Texas A&M University, Graeme Henkelman of the University of Texas at Austin, and Katherine Willets of Temple University. Crystals with nanoscale dimensions, i.e., nanocrystals, are finding use in nearly all sectors of our economy. Their utility arises from the ability to access new properties that depend on their crystal size and shape. This strong dependence on size and shape provides ample opportunity to discover new nanocrystals with useful properties. Yet, as nanocrystal samples are inherently heterogeneous, this discovery process is also exceptionally challenging and requires that nanocrystals within a sample be analyzed individually. Conceptually, this challenge is similar to drug discovery and design, where there is a large experimental space from which a promising target has to be identified. This process has been transformed over the past few decades by high-throughput screening and array-based assays, which shorten the time from target identification to lead generation. Inspired by the conceptual similarities, C-SENND will apply similar strategies to single nanocrystal analyses to create the scientific toolkit and chemical knowledge to transform the discovery of lead nanocrystals with exceptional properties for applications in chemical sensing and catalysis. Research will occur with an inclusive environment, with professional development activities being implemented that build student self-efficacy. Broader impacts of C-SENND emphasize collaboration between scientists and artists to disseminate scientific content through public art in informal environments.C-SENND will undertake two aims during Phase 1. First, the team will merge array-based technologies with single nanocrystal measurements for high-throughput property screening and lead identification from metal nanocrystal libraries. This effort will leverage an electrochemical screening system for nanocrystal library generation and optical methods for high-throughput read-out of nanocrystal properties for chemical sensing and catalysis, providing large sets of single nanocrystal data for model testing and guided design of new nanocrystals. Second, the team will develop single nanocrystal methodologies to establish the relationship between nanocrystal structure and electrochemical response, achieving the breakthrough of product identification and quantification at the level of individual nanocrystal catalysts. This effort will be achieved by coupling electrochemical imaging with mass spectrometry (ECI-MS) of single nanocrystal catalysts. Looking toward Phase II, we envision convergence of aims, where the array-based platform for nanocrystal library generation is paired with the ECI-MS, providing a unique platform for rapid screening of single nanocrystal electrocatalysts for nanocrystal discovery and design. Broadly, C-SENND aims to transform how the chemical community thinks about nanocrystal heterogeneity, viewing such heterogeneity as an asset to discovery rather than a detriment to be suppressed.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.