A Safe-by-Design Nano Materials Research Platform for Practical Applications in Optoelectronics and Energy Conversion

该发现计划将采用一种独特的、主动的方法，同时考虑材料的毒性、安全性和工艺可伸缩性问题，从而启动基于纳米材料的光电子学的安全设计(SBD)研究。全球纳米技术市场一直以18%的复合年增长率增长，预计到2025年将达到1750亿美元。在不同类型的纳米材料中，量子点(QD)的增长速度最快(复合年增长率27.8%，到2026年达到136亿美元)，导致显示技术、光伏、固态照明和生物医学成像领域出现颠覆性的新方法。虽然它们的好处是无可争辩的，但某些纳米材料会导致安全和健康问题(S和H)。大多数QD材料都是基于镉、铅和汞等有毒元素，是高性能器件的主要竞争者。此外，在研发阶段，大多数努力往往集中在器件性能上，而对S&H的关注较少。随着未来产量的增长，S&H可能成为材料合成、器件加工和系统部署三个层面上难以克服的问题。空气中的纳米颗粒也将是加工环境中的一个重要问题，即使是无毒的材料系统也是如此。因此，科学界必须主动做出正确的材料选择，应用科学创新来增强更安全的纳米材料的性能，并开发既可扩展又安全的设备处理方案，以免为时已晚。与块状材料不同，纳米材料为我们提供了通过成分和尺寸修改来设计其性能的独特可能性。在这个为期5年的计划中，我将建立一个独特的SBD研究计划，重点是在光伏、显示和发射设备中合成、增强和部署安全的QD材料。重点将放在无毒的石墨烯、硅和铜铟基量子点系统上。该计划将有四个研究重点，(I)无毒量子点的合成和增强方法，使其与目前性能最好的量子点平起平坐；(Ii)为基于量子点的光伏、发射和显示设备开发安全和可扩展的工艺；(Iii)对散布在加工环境中的纳米颗粒的检测和量化方法；以及(Iv)量子点和QD设备的安全和大容量加工指南。在我在先进光伏和显示系统中心的研究经验和技术专长的支持下，拟议的计划将提供一个必要的、及时的和创新的研究平台，以有意义的方式加快纳米材料的研究。该计划还将提供出色的HQP科学研究和实践研究培训，并将通过确保研发与S&H携手并进，引导研究安全地转化为大规模应用。

This Discovery Program will launch Safe-by-Design (SbD) research on nanomaterial-based optoelectronics by following a unique, proactive approach that also takes material toxicity, safety, and process scalability issues into consideration. The global nanotechnology market has been growing at a compound annual growth rate of >18%, and is poised to reach $175B by 2025. Of the different types of nanomaterials, quantum dots (QDs) are growing at the highest pace (27.8% CAGR, US$ 13.6B by 2026), leading to disruptive new approaches in display technologies, photovoltaics, solid state lighting, and biomedical imaging. While their benefits are indisputable, certain nanomaterials lead to safety and health (S&H) concerns. A majority of the QD materials who are leading contenders for high-performance devices are based on toxic elements such as cadmium, lead, and mercury. Also, at the R&D stage most efforts tend focus on device performance, and less on S&H. When production volumes grow in the future, S&H can become an insurmountable issue at the 3 levels of materials synthesis, device processing, and system deployment. Air-borne nanoparticles will also be an important concern in processing environments, even with non-toxic material systems. It is therefore essential for the scientific community to pro-actively make the right material choices, apply scientific innovation to enhance the properties of safer nanomaterials, and to develop device processing schemes that are both scalable and safe, before it becomes too late. Unlike their bulk counterparts, nanomaterials offer us the unique possibility to engineer their properties through compositional, dimensional modifications. In this 5-year program I will establish a unique SbD research program with the focus on synthesis, enhancement, and deployment of safe QD materials in photovoltaic, display, and emission devices. The focus will be on non-toxic graphene, silicon, and copper-indium based QD systems. The program will have four research thrusts, (i) synthesis and enhancement methods for non-toxic QDs to bring them on par with current top-performing QDs, (ii) development of safe and scalable processes for QD-based photovoltaic, emission, and display devices, (iii) Detection and quantification methods for nanoparticles spread in processing environments, and (iv) guidelines for safe and high volume processing of QDs and QD-enabled devices. Supported by my research experience and technical expertise materials processing and devices at the Centre for Advanced Photovoltaic and Display Systems, the proposed program will provide an essential, timely, and innovative research platform to accelerate nanomaterials research in a meaningful way. The program will also offer excellent HQP training in both scientific and hands-on research, and will steer the safe translation of research into scaled-up applications by ensuring R&D and S&H go hand in hand.