Physical organic chemistry in nanotechnology and catalysis

在过去的5年中，我们成功地开发了利用光化学和物理有机化学的范例合成和表征纳米材料的方法。 在即将到来的赠款期间，我们计划集中利用这些战略来合成新的纳米材料，作为催化，成像和等离子体相互作用领域研究的一个有利工具。 特别地，通过等离子体相互作用的催化是一个发展中的领域，具有找到用于合成有机材料的新的节能途径的巨大潜力。 除了“系综”水平，我们计划探索使用单分子单粒子光谱方法来检查催化过程。 我们对记录单个分子到达纳米催化位点并在催化转化后离开的可能性感到兴奋。通过研究这些事件的频率和持续时间，我们将获得动力学和机械信息，这是无法获得的合奏方法。这一水平的信息将是特别有用的，在多相催化领域的分布的大小和形态往往被掩盖在合奏研究。 等离子体激元过程还可以触发具有精致空间分辨率（小于10 nm）的化学反应，这将被探索用于新型自组装等离子体纳米激光器，这可能对纳米光子学和信息技术产生重大影响。 光刻中的空间分辨率最终受到衍射极限的限制。 我们将通过发明一种新型的等离子体光刻来探索克服这种物理障碍的可能性，因为等离子体过程不受衍射的限制。

During the last 5 years we have successfully developed methods for the synthesis and characterization of nanomaterials taking advantage of the paradigms of photochemistry and physical organic chemistry. During the forthcoming grant period we plan to concentrate on the utilization of these strategies for the synthesis of new nanomaterials as an enabling tool for research in the fields of catalysis, imaging and plasmonic interactions. In particular catalysis through plasmonic interactions is a developing field with great potential to find new, energy efficient routes for the synthesis of organic materials. In addition to the "ensemble" level, we plan to explore the use of single-molecule-single-particle spectroscopic methods to examine the catalytic process. We are excited about the possibility of recording a single molecule arrive at a nano-catalytic site and depart after catalytic conversion. By studying the frequency and duration of these events we will acquire kinetic and mechanistic information that is unattainable by ensemble methods. This level of information will be particularly useful in the field of heterogeneous catalysis where a distribution of sizes and morphologies tends to be masked in ensemble studies. Plasmon processes can also trigger chemistry with exquisite spatial resolution (less than 10 nm) something that will be explored for a new type of self-assembled plasmonic nano-lasers, that could have major impact in nanophotonics and information technologies. Spatial resolution in photolithography is ultimately limited by the diffraction limit. We will explore the possibility of overcoming this physical barrier by inventing a new type of plasmonic lithography, as plasmon processes are not limited by diffraction.