Blueprint for design and assembly of multifunctional, adaptive materials using the nanocrystal periodic table
Abstract
Chemical bonding between atoms in extended networks gives solids with distinct physical properties (e.g. metallic, semiconducting, or insulating; magnetic; plasmonic; mechanically soft or hard) that depend on the type, number, and arrangement of atoms. However, bonding constraints often reclude the co-existence of multiple properties in a single-phase material. Our team will create the blueprint for the design and assembly of multifunctional, adaptive materials by replacing the traditional atomic periodic table with a ???Periodic Table??? in which inorganic colloidal nanocrystals (NCs) serve as ???artificial atoms.??? We will design ???exotic??? material superstructures that couple three or more orthogonal physical properties by engineering architectures at the micro-, meso-, nano-, and atomic scales and by exploiting NC size-, shape-, and composition-dependent physical properties. We seek dramatic, predictable changes in the hyperspace of material properties (e.g. absorptivity and emissivity, permittivity and permeability, electrical and thermal conductivity, modulus) that can be toggled by temperature, stress, electrochemical voltage, electromagnetic waves, DC fields etc. To realize dramatic changesin materials properties, we will explore phenomena driven by (i) insulator-to-metal phase transitions, (ii) management of charge- and spin-state occupancy, and (iii) dynamic changes in atomic, nano, meso-, micro-and macroscale structure of the materials. We will create permanent, hysteretic, and reversible changes in materials response and thus form fuses, latches, and switches, respectively. To achieve our objectives, we will employ inverse design by making the starting point for design the ending point of what we aim to achieve. Our computational-experimental team will program NC superstructures with targeted multifunctionalities and will design the NC building blocks that assemble into those superstructures using a combination of quantum level calculations, atomistic simulations, and finite element modeling. The designs will provide a blueprint for the synthesis and self- and directed- assembly of NC superstructures from the NC Periodic Table. We will characterize and correlate the structure and multiple, optical, electrical,magnetic, thermal, and mechanical functionalities of NC superstructures by ex situ and in operando measurements techniques, which will in turn, provide feedback to the system design.We will exemplify these design principles by constructing self-adaptive material superstructures applicable to structural materials, biosensors, electronics, energy conversion devices, and photonics that could transform civilian and defense technologies. These NC superstructures could provide a self-protecting mode, where high energy light is absorbed and the superstructure responds to reflect visible or near-infrared light and, even to self-cool, by emitting at longerinfrared wavelengths. Chiro-magnetic NC superstructures could enable novel magneto-optical devices and open the possibility of ???hidden??? communication bandwidths impervious to interception. Adaptive magnetic materials could protect against electromagnetic interference ranging from solar flares to electromagnetic pulse weapons. In addition to their multifunctionalities,these systems could yield high performance/weight ratio materials, essential for an increasing mobile society as they are for modern combat soldiers.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Jul 26, 2018
- Source ID
- N000141812497
Entities
People
- Christopher B Murray
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy
- University of Pennsylvania