NSF-DFG Confine: Reacting precursor/solvent microdroplets in confined 2-D microflows for tailored nanomaterials synthesis

NSF-DFG Confine：在受限的二维微流中反应前体/溶剂微滴，以实现定制的纳米材料合成

• 批准号: 2234283
• 负责人: Stephen Tse
• 金额: $ 36万
• 依托单位: Rutgers University New Brunswick
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-11-01 至 2025-10-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2234283&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: NSF; DFG; Confine; Reacting; precursor

This project was awarded through the “Chemistry and Transport in Confined Spaces (NSF-DFG Confine)" opportunity, a collaborative solicitation that involves the National Science Foundation and Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG).Ubiquitously, our daily life involves the use of high surface-area materials. Frequently, these materials are the key to the sustainable use of energy and resources. Examples of their applications include catalytic components, batteries, electrodes, composite materials, gas sensors, flowing agents, 3D printing, and artificial slag systems. The demand for high surface area per unit mass and fast mass transfer in most applications requires using very small particles with a large external surface area. The way to success is by producing and using such nanoparticles, mostly in the form of oxides and often with specific composition, stoichiometry, and multi-material interactions. Their bottom-up synthesis involves reaction, nucleation, surface growth, coagulation, coalescence, and often crystallization. A novel microreactor involving combusting microdroplets is proposed to synthesize nanoparticles of tailored chemical composition and crystal structure in a scalable, uniform, and consistent fashion. Successful results of this project will reveal fundamental processes and improve practical process control to bridge the current gap between laboratory studies and industrial large-scale and high-rate manufacturing of functional flame-synthesized nanoparticles. This project unites the capabilities of researchers from the U.S.A. (Rutgers University) and Germany (University of Bremen), who are recognized specialists in the emerging field of flame synthesis of nanomaterials. Curricula will be developed as an integrated, multidisciplinary research and education project to train a future nano-manufacturing workforce. Through a joint Ph.D./MBA curriculum on technology entrepreneurship, new business ventures based on the IP from this project will be assessed.The proposed program’s objective focuses on investigating the mechanisms of droplet-to-particle conversion (DPC) and gas-to-particle conversion (GPC) in a confined environment by utilizing a reactive multiphase 2D microflow system with controlled individual burning liquid precursor/solvent droplets in precisely adjustable gas composition and temperature environments. Defining process conditions along a microdroplet’s path should allow unparalleled ability to fabricate high-quality and tailored nanoparticles in a continuous system whose output can be directed into another system for inline processing of composite materials or other uses. Our microfluidic geometry and available operational parameters allow basic and isolated studies of various phenomena hardly discernable in other macroscopic systems. The microdroplets in the microreactor can experience large heating and cooling rates, affecting detailed chemistry and transport in far-from-equilibrium conditions. Individual droplet investigation can be conducted using temperature-controlled (heated or cooled) walls to sustain combustion or quench reactions, where the droplets and as-produced nanomaterials can be characterized (e.g., offline using chromatography by sampling) at different locations (correlating to different residence times), thereby measuring reaction kinetics and nanomaterials evolution. Burning droplets can coalesce with burning/non-burning droplets of the same or different precursors. The setup of burning microdroplets moving through a transparent microfluidic reactor (Hele-Shaw cell) is amenable to a host of in-situ diagnostics, including laser-based spectroscopy, high-speed imaging, interferometric particle imaging, and rainbow refractometry. Ex-situ characterization and computational modeling will be conducted to understand, optimize, and guide the experiments. Perhaps hitherto unseen in conventional combustion synthesis, the combinations and direct manipulation of uniform droplets in the proposed setup can produce a variety of nanoparticles, such as organic, inorganic, hybrid, and complex nanoparticles, with exceptional control of size, size distribution, morphology, composition, and crystallinity.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该项目是通过“狭窄空间中的化学和运输（NSF-DFG限制）”的机会授予的，这是一种合作招标，涉及国家科学基金会和德意志Forschungsgemeinschaft（DFG）。通常，这些材料是能源和资源可持续使用的关键。其应用的示例包括催化成分，电池，电极，复合材料，气体传感器，流动剂，3D打印和人造炉渣系统。在大多数应用中，对每单位质量的高表面积和快速传质的需求需要使用非常小的颗粒具有较大的外表面积。成功的方法是产生和使用这种纳米颗粒，主要是以氧化物的形式，通常具有特定的组成，化学计量和多物质相互作用。它们的自下而上的合成涉及反应，成核，表面生长，凝结，结合以及通常结晶。提出了一种涉及燃烧微颗粒的新型微反应器，以以可扩展，均匀且一致的方式合成定制化学成分和晶体结构的纳米颗粒。该项目的成功结果将揭示基本过程并改善实际过程控制，以弥合实验室研究与工业大规模和高速生产之间功能性火焰合成纳米颗粒之间的差距。该项目将来自美国（罗格斯大学）和德国（不来梅大学）的研究人员的能力团结在一起，他们是纳米材料新兴领域的公认专家。课程将作为一个综合，多学科的研究和教育项目开发，以培训未来的纳米制造劳动力。通过对技术企业家精神的联合博士学位/MBA课程，将评估基于该项目的IP的新企业。将评估基于IP的新业务。拟议计划的目标集中在调查液滴转换（DPC）的机制（DPC）（DPC）和气体对抛光转换（GPC），通过利用液体式燃烧的液体2D DD DD DD MIRSTER SONCERITS（GPC）精确可调气体组成和温度环境中的液滴。沿微螺旋体路径定义过程条件应允许在连续系统中制造高质量和定制的纳米颗粒的无与伦比的能力，该系统可以将其输出引入另一个系统，以用于对复合材料或其他用途的内联处理。我们的微流体几何形状和可用的操作参数允许在其他宏观系统中几乎无法识别各种现象的基本和孤立研究。微反应器中的微孔可以经历较大的加热和冷却速率，从而影响远距离平衡条件下的详细化学和运输。 Individual droplet investigation can be conducted using temperature-controlled (heated or cooled) walls to sustain mixture or quench reactions, where the droplets and as-produced nanomaterials can be characterised (e.g., offline using chromatography by sampling) at different locations (correlating to different residence times), thereby measuring reaction kinetics and nanomaterials evolution.燃烧的液滴可以与相同或不同前体的燃烧/非燃烧的液滴合并。通过透明的微流体反应器（Hele-shaw细胞）移动的燃烧微颗粒的设置可与许多原位诊断，包括基于激光的光谱，高速成像，高速成像，干涉粒子粒子成像和Rainbow折射率。将进行现场表征和计算建模，以理解，优化和指导实验。也许在常规组合合成中看不见，拟议设置中均匀液滴的组合和直接操纵可以产生各种纳米颗粒，例如有机，无机，杂种和复杂的纳米颗粒，并具有特殊的尺寸分布，形成，形成型和结晶的范围。利用基金会的知识分子和更广泛的影响审查标准。