Synthesis, characterization and application of highly functional nanoparticles

纳米材料(尺寸：1-100 nm)具有这种尺度下物质独有的新特性，为解决许多紧迫的生物医学问题提供了新的途径。为特定应用量身定做纳米结构材料是纳米科学和纳米技术成功的核心。对基本原理(如结构-性质关系)的深入理解是开发新型和先进纳米材料的关键和基础。在这一应用的框架内，我计划开发新的方法来合成功能纳米粒子并对其表面进行修饰，以及研究其有趣的性质，可能不仅产生原始的方法，还可能产生新的概念和应用。具体地说，在未来五年，我将研究两类最重要的纳米粒子：1)近红外发射量子点(主要是PbS)，它们具有很高的深部组织成像潜力。该计划旨在实现具有高光致发光效率、出色的光稳定性和宽波长可调谐的水溶性近红外量子点。特别是，将开发一种新的方法，通过设计无机和有机表面结构来更好地进行表面钝化，以解决近红外量子点目前面临的一些挑战，例如转移到水中后光稳定性和量子产率的显著下降；以及2)通过新的物理化学方法制备等离子体金纳米粒子(化学制备金纳米粒子，然后精心定制激光照射)。其目的是为了更好地了解激光处理的金纳米颗粒的表面化学状态以及表面化学如何影响其独特的光学(如表面增强拉曼散射)和其他性质，并确定激光诱导的表面修饰是否代表了一种有效调节纳米颗粒性质的新的替代途径。

Nanomaterials (size scale: 1-100 nm) with their novel properties unique to matter at this scale are offering new ways to address many pressing biomedical issues. Tailoring nanostructured materials for specific applications is at the core of successful nanoscience and nanotechnology. The deep understanding of the fundamentals (such as structure-property relationships) is critical and underpins the development of novel and advanced nanomaterials. In the framework of this application, I plan to develop new approaches to synthesize functional nanoparticles and to modify their surfaces, as well as to study their intriguing properties, possibly resulting in not only original approaches, but also new concepts and applications. Specifically, in the next five years, I will study on two types of most important nanoparticles: 1) near-infrared emitting quantum dots (mainly, PbS) that have high potential for deep-tissue imaging. The program aims to achieve water soluble near-infrared quantum dots with high photoluminescence efficiency, exceptional photostability and wide wavelength tunability. Particularly, a new approach based on a better surface passivation by designing both inorganic and organic surface structures will be developed to address some of the current challenges of near-infrared quantum dots such as the significant decrease of photostability and quantum yields after transfer into water; and 2) plasmonic gold nanoparticles fabricated by a new physicochemical approach (chemically prepared gold nanoparticles followed by carefully tailored laser irradiation). The objective is to gain a better understanding of the surface chemical state of laser-processed gold nanoparticles and how the surface chemistry affects their unique optical (such as surface-enhanced Raman scattering) and other properties, and to establish whether laser-induced surface modification represents a new, alternative route to effectively tune nanoparticle properties.