Functional Luminescent Inorganic Nanomaterials: From Fundamentals to Applications

纳米材料的特征是沿单个轴的尺寸小于100纳米。这意味着这些材料比人类头发的宽度小10万倍。这些微小材料的独特性质已经给科学带来了革命性的变化，从生物医学应用到安全(爆炸物检测和文件防伪)、能量存储(太阳能电池、新电池)、人工智能和环境方面的技术进步。尽管过去一个世纪取得了许多进展，但除非推动重大科学和技术突破，否则社会在上述领域将继续面临严峻挑战。克服这些挑战中的许多，如果不是全部的话，将取决于对原子和分子聚集体的性质和行为的了解，在这种情况下，性质与更大规模(宏观)的性质和新的纳米材料的合成有很大不同。由于光的高度可控性和多功能性，以及它的非侵入性，基于光的技术在促进纳米材料的使用方面特别有吸引力。我们研究计划的首要目标是合成功能纳米材料，并表征其光物理、结构和化学性质。作为一个整体，该方案提出了许多挑战，并在了解社区在生物应用(生物成像、药物输送、光学传感、光动力疗法和光开关)的发光纳米材料研究方面所面临的挑战方面取得了新的进展。该方案还将为先进的癌症治疗技术与光动力疗法等基于光的方法相结合的目的，提供纳米颗粒与X射线相互作用的基本了解。这种对NPs与其环境和不同激发能量的相互作用的基本理解将促进新材料的长期设计。我们还将研究智能纳米载体的基本特性，用于在不产生过氧化氢等有毒物质的情况下，利用光引导药物输送。我们研究计划的目标是促进基于光的纳米材料的开发和理解，以创造造福加拿大社会的下一代智能技术。

Nanomaterials are characterized as being less than 100 nanometers along a single axis. This means these materials are 100,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair. The unique properties of these tiny materials have revolutionized science from biomedical applications to technological advancements in security (explosives detection, and anti-forgery of documents), energy storage (solar cells, new batteries), artificial intelligence and the environment. Despite the many advances which have occurred over the past century, society will continue to be faced with daunting challenges in the above-mentioned areas unless major scientific and technological breakthroughs are fostered. Overcoming many, if not all, of these challenges will depend on understanding the properties and behaviour of aggregates of atoms and molecules at a scale where properties differ significantly from those at the larger scale (macroscopic) and on the synthesis of new nanomaterials. Light-based technologies are particularly attractive for advancing the use of nanomaterials because of the high degree of control and versatility of light, as well as its non-invasive nature. The overriding objective of our research program is the synthesis of functional nanomaterials, and characterization of their photophysical, structural and chemical properties. The programme as a whole poses many challenges and breaks new ground in understanding the challenges faced by the community carrying out research on luminescent nanomaterials for biological applications (bioimaging, drug delivery, optical sensing, photodynamic therapy and photoswitching). The programme will also provide a fundamental understanding of the interaction of nanoparticles with X-rays for the purpose of advanced cancer treatment technologies in combination with light-based methods such as photodynamic therapy. This fundamental understanding of the interaction of the NPs with their environment and with different excitation energies will foster the long-term design of novel materials. We will also investigate the fundamental properties of smart nano-vehicles for the guided delivery of drugs using light without the production of toxic species like hydrogen peroxide. The goal of our research programme is to advance the development and understanding of light-based nanomaterials to create the next generation of smart technologies which will benefit Canadian society.