NSF-DFG Confine: Building functional supraparticles through directed assembly of nonspherical nanoparticles under confinement

纳米颗粒在我们经济的几乎所有领域都有应用，从个人护理到药物输送。它们的效用来自于获得新特性的能力，这些特性取决于它们的大小，形状和精确的排列-称为自组装。纳米粒子在受限几何形状中的自组装有望构建具有重要特性的功能材料和器件，这些特性在其他方面是不可用的。该奖项是美国印第安纳州大学和德国埃尔兰根-纽伦堡弗里德里希-亚历山大大学之间的合作，旨在通过液滴和小通道内的定向自组装来创建由数十至数千个非球形纳米颗粒组成的定义良好的超粒子。该奖项将扩大超粒子设计的工具箱，并将通过结合现实的相互作用为未来的纳米粒子组装的计算研究奠定基础。该项目的更广泛的影响强调实验学家和计算科学家之间的合作，通过多学科研究加强研究生和本科生教育。暑期研究机会将提供给来自代表性不足群体的学生。互动模块，说明自我组装的基本概念将被设计和介绍在当地的科学博物馆和节日。 该奖项的总体目标是通过利用有限的几何形状来控制纳米颗粒组装，从而推进超颗粒的设计和合成。将实现三个目标。首先，实验和计算方法的非球形纳米粒子组装成离散的超微粒使用乳液液滴作为模板将被建立。其次，将利用使用常规乳化方法和微流体技术产生的乳液液滴来实现由非中心对称纳米颗粒组成的超颗粒的精确合成。第三，在圆柱约束下通过结晶制备具有出射手征光学性质的一维超粒子。实验之间的相互作用，建立改进的合成和表征协议，和理论，推进粗粒度的建模和模拟算法，将提高在球形和圆柱形限制的自组装路径的基本理解。所获得的发现和见解也将应用于其他受几何约束影响的系统，例如孔隙中水的结晶，病毒衣壳的形成，生物矿化，大分子组织和细胞中的分子包装。该项目通过“受限空间中的化学和运输”获得（NSF-DFG限制）”机会，一项涉及美国国家科学基金会和德国研究共同体（DFG）的合作征集活动该奖项反映了NSF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。

Nanoparticles are finding use in almost all sectors of our economy from personal care to drug delivery. Their utility arises from the ability to access new properties that depend on their size, shape, and precise arrangement – called self-assembly. Self-assembly of nanoparticles in confined geometries hold the promise to build functional materials and devices with important properties that are otherwise not available. This award is a collaboration between Indiana University in the United States and Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg in Germany to create well-defined supraparticles consisting of tens to thousands of nonspherical nanoparticles through directed self-assembly within liquid droplets and small channels. This award will expand the toolbox of supraparticle-by-design and will lay the groundwork for future computational studies of nanoparticle assembly by incorporating realistic interactions. Broader impacts of this project emphasize collaboration between experimentalists and computational scientists to enhance graduate and undergraduate education through multidisciplinary research. Summer research opportunities will be provided to students from underrepresented groups. Interactive modules to illustrate basic concepts of self-assembly will be designed and presented at local science museums and festivals. The overall objective of this award is to advance the design and synthesis of supraparticles by leveraging confined geometries to control nanoparticle assembly. Three aims will be undertaken. First, experimental, and computational approaches for the assembly of nonspherical nanoparticles into discrete supraparticles using emulsion droplets as templates will be established. Second, emulsion droplets generated using conventional emulsification methods and microfluidics to achieve precision synthesis of supraparticles composed of non-centrosymmetric nanoparticles will be leveraged. Third, one-dimensional supraparticles with emergent chiral optical properties via crystallization under cylindrical confinement will be fabricated. The interplay between experiment, establishing improved synthesis and characterization protocols, and theory, advancing coarse-grained modeling and simulation algorithms, will improve the fundamental understanding of self-assembly pathways in spherical and cylindrical confinement. The findings obtained and insights gained will also have applications in other systems that are affected by geometric constraints, such as crystallization of water in pores, virus capsid formation, biomineralization, macromolecular organization, and molecular packing in cells.This project was awarded through the “Chemistry and Transport in Confined Spaces (NSF-DFG Confine)" opportunity, a collaborative solicitation that involves the National Science Foundation and Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG).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.