Project Details
Projekt
NSF‐DFG MISSION: Imaging interfacial mass, charge, and energy transfer in nanoparticle/conductive polymer hybrids
Subject Area
Polymer Materials
Term
since 2024
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 542367335
Chemistry at confined interfaces is governed by the same forces as in the bulk, but these forces are manifested at different, often highly nonlinear, scales. Understanding and controlling these local forces are thus critical to the success or failure of bulk processes ranging from separations to corrosion to energy storage. It is necessary to correlate nanoscale structural heterogeneity with confinement‐induced changes in mass and charge transport, local electric fields, and steric effects under in operando conditions. The goal of this NSF‐DFG project is to utilize single-particle dark‐field scattering and surface enhanced Raman microscopy to optically read out nanoscale details about the interfacial chemistry and physics governing mass, charge and energy transport in individual metal nanoparticle/conductive polymer hybrids. The project’s hypothesis is that electrical‐to‐optical signal transduction and in operando analysis can be achieved by exploiting the charge transfer plasmon resonance that has a distinct optical signature and only exists when two metal nanoparticles are brought into electrical contact. The team will pursue three objectives: 1) Synthetically control the electronic coupling between metal core and polymer shell, tuned through their chemical linkage, by rational design of conductive polymer coated plasmonic nanoparticles of different size, shape, and interfacial chemistry. 2) Understand the underlying heterogeneity in mass, charge, and energy transport in single nanoparticle/conductive polymer hybrids using custom dark‐field scattering and surface-enhanced Raman scattering. 3) Determine the conductance in different nanoscale assembly geometries by controlling the interfacial coupling and modulating the chemical environment through the emergence of charge transfer plasmons, which are highly sensitive to nano‐ and Angstrom‐scale distances.
DFG Programme
Research Grants
International Connection
USA
Cooperation Partners
Christy Landes; Professor Dr. Stephan Link
