GCR: Rational Design of Topological Insulators using Atomically-Precise DNA Self-Assembly

在许多方面，人类的历史就是材料的历史;从青铜时代和铁器时代到现代硅时代，人类利用了周围材料的特性来促进文明的进步。从这个角度来看，改进的顶峰将是设计具有先验所需特性的材料。这个融合项目的愿景是应对这一重大挑战。该项目旨在利用DNA自组装的独特特性，沿着其化学和结构特性，创造具有精确可控的电子和磁性的合成材料，最终目标是开发磁性拓扑绝缘体（TI）。在TI中引入强大的磁性将允许在固态中实现独特的量子现象，可以用于包括量子计算，电子学，自旋电子学，光电子学和可再生能源在内的应用。实现这一愿景将需要化学，生物学，材料科学，工程，纳米技术，计算建模和凝聚态物理学之间的融合。为了实现融合，该项目汇集了跨越这些学科的多元化专家团队，他们将协同工作，共同设计和共同开发这些系统。开发精确控制材料电子能带结构和磁性的能力将在未来几十年对社会产生广泛的影响。此外，该项目还包括一个新的科学社区的核心框架，该社区专注于利用软物质的独特空间和拓扑特性来创建具有精确定制的电子和磁性的拓扑绝缘体。这个社区将代表科学和工程界广泛的思想，语言和理想的融合。该项目旨在开发一个框架，使精确的拓扑控制材料的电子和磁性。实现这一愿景需要互补学科之间的融合，以最终融合软物质，实空间拓扑与动量空间（k空间）拓扑的领域。具体而言，其目的是利用DNA纳米技术提供的独特的可编程性和无与伦比的空间，结构和自组装能力，精确定制金属离子的拓扑结构，最终通过迭代，合理的设计创造磁性拓扑绝缘体。将磁性引入拓扑绝缘体是凝聚态物理学界目前尚未解决的一个重大挑战;而基于DNA的实空间拓扑控制为解决这一挑战提供了一条独特的途径。原子级精确的金属化DNA基序的发展将允许控制电子特性，以及设计特定目的的自组装能带结构。为实现这一目标，该项目将侧重于：i）在原子和分子水平上推进金属化碱基对的化学设计和合成; ii）在超分子水平上开发DNA组装体的结构和拓扑设计方法; iii）提取和量化小规模DNA组装体的电子性质; iv）在分子水平上对混合生物/凝聚物质的电子结构和输运性质进行建模; v）开发一种设计语言，用于理解如何将DNA纳米技术提供的独特空间拓扑控制映射到所需的动量中-拓扑绝缘体中电子空间拓扑控制通过这些步骤，该项目将设计和实施初步的原理验证TI设计，并为一个新的社区播下种子，该社区将在未来几十年维持这一新生领域。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知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。

In many ways the history of humanity is the history of materials; from the Bronze and Iron Ages to the modern Silicon Age, humans have taken advantage of the properties of the materials around them to foster the advancement of civilization. From this viewpoint, the pinnacle of improvement would be to design materials with desired properties a priori. The vision of this convergent project is to address this grand challenge. This project aims to take advantage of the unique characteristics of DNA self-assembly, along with its chemical and structural properties to create synthetic materials with precisely-controllable electronic and magnetic properties with the ultimate goal of developing magnetic Topological Insulators (TIs). The introduction of robust magnetism into TIs will allow unique quantum phenomena to be realized in the solid state that could be exploited for applications including quantum computing, electronics, spintronics, optoelectronics, and renewable energy. Accomplishing this vision will require a convergence between chemistry, biology, materials science, engineering, nanotechnology, computational modeling, and condensed matter physics. To achieve convergence, this project brings together a diverse team of experts spanning these disciplines that will work collaboratively to co-design and co-develop these systems. Developing the ability to precisely control the electronic band structure and magnetic properties of materials will have broad impacts across society in the coming decades. In addition, this project includes a framework for nucleating a new scientific community focused on utilizing the unique spatial and topological properties of soft matter to create topological insulators with precisely tailored electronic and magnetic properties. This community will represent a convergence of thoughts, language, and ideals from a broad spectrum of the science and engineering community. This project aims to develop a framework that enables precision topological control over the electronic and magnetic properties of materials. Achieving this vision requires a convergence between complementary disciplines to ultimately fuse the realms of soft matter, real-space topology with momentum-space (k-space) topology. Specifically, the aim is to utilize the unique programmability and unparalleled spatial, structural, and self-assembly capabilities afforded by DNA nanotechnology to precisely tailor the topology of metal ions to ultimately create magnetic topological insulators through iterative, rational design. The introduction of magnetism into topological insulators is currently a major unresolved challenge in the condensed matter physics community; and real-space, DNA-based topological control provides a unique path toward solving this challenge. The development of atomically precise, metalated DNA motifs will allow control over electronic properties, and the design of purpose-specific, self-assembled band structure. To achieve this goal, this project will focus on: i) advancing chemical design and synthesis of metalated base pairs at the atomic and molecular levels; ii) developing approaches for the structural and topological design of DNA assemblies at the supramolecular scale; iii) extracting and quantifying the electronic properties of small-scale DNA-based assemblies; iv) modeling the electronic structure and transport properties of hybrid bio/condensed matter at the molecular levels; v) developing a design language for understanding how to map the unique spatial topological control afforded by DNA nanotechnology into the desired momentum-space topological control of electrons in topological insulators. Through these steps, this project will design and implement initial proof-of-principle TI designs and plant the seeds of a new community that will sustain this nascent field in the decades to come.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.