Understanding and Controlling the Self Assembly of Nanoscale Polyoxometalate Clusters: From Understanding to the Design of Functional Clusters

纳米级多金属氧酸盐簇合物是比人类头发薄1万倍的金属氧化物分子(一种常见的金属氧化物是铁锈)，它们可以说提供了一类无与伦比的分子，展示了一系列非常有趣的物理性质(它们可以被用作分子机器，帮助一个分子非常迅速地转变为另一个分子，而不会浪费；它们可以在光中改变颜色，被用来存储信息，就像DVD上的染料一样；可以像电池一样存储电，甚至可以用作非常小的磁铁)。这是因为它们可以被认为是基于一组通用的积木或乐高积木，这些积木可以以多种方式组合在一起，在一个步骤中构建不同类型的分子对象。尽管这些分子很大，包含数以千计的积木，但人们不知道它们是如何构建自己的，也不可能使用蓝图或任何其他计划来设计分子。此外，这些分子很脆弱，很容易分离。在这项研究中，我们将开发一种方法来观察这些非常大的星团的一步构建，目的是准确地找出它们是如何构建的。要做到这一点，我们将需要采取许多不同风格的探测工作，从检查这些分子的结构，通过将它们包裹在一种塑料中使它们更稳定，到在单个乐高积木组装成纳米级簇之前捕获它们。我们将通过使用非常强大的显微镜来完成这项工作，通过称量存在的集群和构建块，并在我们制造集群时测量它们的分子指纹。我们还将设计不同的方案，并在制造它们之前通过尝试预测星团的形状来测试它们。重要的是，这项探测工作将被用来超越对过程的理解，但我们的目标是利用这一理解来生产纳米尺度的“设计者”功能材料。

Nanoscale polyoxometalate clusters are molecules of metal oxide 10,000 times thinner than a human hair (a common metal oxide is rust) and they provide arguably an unrivalled class of molecules displaying a wide range of very interesting physical properties (they can be used as molecular machines to 'help' one molecule turn into another very quickly without waste, they can change colour in light and be used to store information like dyes on a DVD, be used like a battery to store electricity and even as very small magnets). This is because they can be thought of being based on a common set of building blocks, or lego bricks, that can be put together in many ways to build different types of molecular objects in one step. Although these molecules are large and contain many thousands of building blocks, the way they build themselves is not understood and it is not possible to design the molecules using a blueprint or any other plan. Also these molecules are fragile and easily fall apart.In this research we will develop an approach to look at the one step construction of these very large clusters with the aim of working out exactly how they are built. To do this we will need to adopt a number of different styles of detective work, from examining the structure of these molecules by making them more stable by wrapping them in a type of plastic, to trapping the individual lego bricks before they assemble into the nanoscale cluster. We will do this by using a very powerful microscope, by weighing the clusters and building blocks present, and by measuring their molecular fingerprint when we make the clusters. We will also design different plans and test them by trying to predict the shape of the cluster before we make them.Importantly this detective work will be used to go beyond understanding the process but we will aim to use this understanding to produce 'designer' functional materials of nanoscopic dimensions.