Synchrotron X-ray Spectroscopy of Metal Nanostructures

纳米粒子是当前纳米技术中应用最广泛的构件。更好地理解纳米颗粒的结构与性质之间的关系对于推进纳米技术至关重要。这项拟议的研究计划侧重于使用强大的同步辐射X射线光谱技术来揭示一些具有重要技术意义的纳米粒子系统的结构-性质关系。将研究三类纳米系统，包括(I)组成精确控制的金和银纳米颗粒，(Ii)生物功能纳米颗粒和(Iii)催化活性纳米颗粒。通过使用我们最近建立的与本提案中概述的新技术相结合的同步加速器光谱技术，预计将显著提高对上述三类纳米系统的结构-性质关系的理解，这将为物理化学和材料科学的基础研究做出重要贡献。拟议的研究还将改善纳米催化剂和生物装置的性能，从而促进加拿大纳米技术的进步。最后，这项工作中提出的独特的同步加速器X射线技术的发展将使许多正在使用加拿大国家同步加速器设施--加拿大光源的加拿大研究人员受益。

Nanoparticles are the most widely used building blocks in current nanotechnology. Improved understanding of the structure-property relationships of nanoparticles is crucial for advancing nanotechnology. This proposed research program focuses on the use of powerful synchrotron X-ray spectroscopy techniques to uncover the structure-property relationships of some technologically important nanoparticle systems. Three classes of nano-systems will be studied, including (i) gold and silver nanoparticles with precisely controlled compositions, (ii) biologically functionalized nanoparticles and (iii) catalytically active nanoparticles. By using the synchrotron spectroscopy techniques that we recently established in conjunction with the new techniques outlined in this proposal, it is anticipated that significantly improved understanding of the structure-property relationships of the above three classes of nano-systems will be resulted, which will make important contributions to the fundamental research in physical chemistry and materials science. The proposed research will also improve the performance of nanometer-sized catalysts and biological devices, thus contributing to the advancement of nanotechnology in Canada. Finally, development of the unique synchrotron X-ray techniques proposed in this work will benefit many Canadian researchers who are using the national synchrotron facility of Canada, the Canadian Light Source.