Collaborative Research: CDI-Type II: First-Principles Based Control of Multi-Scale Meta-Material Assembly Processes

合作研究：CDI-Type II：基于第一原理的多尺度超材料组装过程控制

• 批准号: 1124648
• 负责人: Michael Bevan
• 金额: $ 39.96万
• 依托单位: Johns Hopkins University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-09-01 至 2016-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1124648&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; CDI; Type; II

The assembly of colloidal nano- or micro-particles into perfectly ordered periodic structures provides a basis for manufacturing photonic band gap materials and other multi-scale meta-materials with unique electric, magnetic, and optical properties. Although proof-of-concept materials have been made in laboratories to verify their amazing properties, no existing process is yet sufficiently controllable, scalable, and robust for high-throughput manufacturing to enable commercial applications. The fundamental limitation to assembling colloidal components into ordered structures is the complex interplay of thermal motion, interparticle interactions, and external fields that lead to defect-rich and often arrested states. We propose a new approach to the meta-material assembly problem that combines expertise from four separate scientific fields that traditionally have had minimal interaction. Mathematical models of the colloidal systems, represented as free energy landscapes (FELs) in a few key variables that characterize the state of the assembly process, will be constructed using data from advanced microscopic imaging and analysis tools. The FELs will in turn be used as input to rigorous process control algorithms, developed for stochastic processes, that will navigate the landscapes to yield defect-free products. This strategy will be demonstrated and refined on prototype lab-scale reactors, using real-time digital microscopic imaging as the sensor and programmable particle-particle interaction potentials & electric fields as the actuators, to produce meta-materials.In terms of broader impact, successful development of fundamental tools for large-scale assembly of defect-free colloidal crystals has the potential to produce revolutionary technologies (e.g. optical computing, energy harvesting, sub-diffraction limit imaging, invisibility cloaking) not unlike the creation of single crystal silicon to enable integrated circuits and modern computing. No existing processes today are capable of producing such materials at a commercial scale despite 25 years of trial-and-error efforts. A strategy of rigorous real-time control using quantitatively accurate process models, like that proposed here, is required. The education and outreach activities will incorporate integrate concepts from modeling, control, simulations, and experiments, including rich visual data from colloid experiments (e.g. images, videos) and physics-based simulations (e.g. renderings, animations) to provide intuitive education/training for students at all levels.

将胶体纳米或微米颗粒组装成完美有序的周期性结构，为制造光子带隙材料和其他具有独特电学、磁学和光学性质的多尺度超材料提供了基础。 尽管概念验证材料已经在实验室中制造出来，以验证其惊人的特性，但现有的工艺还不足以实现高通量制造的可控性、可扩展性和稳健性，从而实现商业应用。 将胶体成分组装成有序结构的根本限制是热运动、粒子间相互作用和外部场之间的复杂相互作用，这些相互作用会导致缺陷丰富且经常被阻止的状态。 我们提出了一种解决超材料组装问题的新方法，该方法结合了传统上相互作用最少的四个独立科学领域的专业知识。 将使用先进的显微成像和分析工具的数据构建胶体系统的数学模型，以表征组装过程状态的几个关键变量中的自由能景观（FEL）表示。 FEL 反过来将用作严格的过程控制算法的输入，该算法是为随机过程而开发的，该算法将引导环境产生无缺陷的产品。该策略将在原型实验室规模反应器上进行演示和完善，使用实时数字显微成像作为传感器，使用可编程粒子间相互作用势和电场作为执行器，以生产超材料。就更广泛的影响而言，成功开发用于大规模组装无缺陷胶体晶体的基本工具有可能产生革命性的技术（例如光学计算、能量收集、亚衍射极限成像、隐形斗篷），这与单晶的创造没有什么不同硅使集成电路和现代计算成为可能。尽管经过 25 年的反复试验，目前还没有任何现有工艺能够以商业规模生产此类材料。需要一种使用定量准确的过程模型的严格实时控制策略，就像这里提出的那样。教育和推广活动将整合建模、控制、模拟和实验的概念，包括来自胶体实验的丰富视觉数据（例如图像、视频）和基于物理的模拟（例如渲染、动画），为学生提供直观的教育/培训。各个级别的学生。