Constructing Highly Ordered Nano-Hybrid Material Systems
Nano-hybrid material systems composed of nanomaterials and polymers are essential building blocks for functional composites and flexible electronics. One grand challenge of hybrid material systems is that their complicated morphologies prevent in-depth understanding of the structure-property relationship and effective methodologies to control the structures and design their properties.
The research at the Hybrid Nano-Architectures and Advanced Manufacturing Lab tackles this challenge through designing and creating highly -ordered nano-hybrid architectures of nanomaterial and polymer through the combination of nanotechnology and polymer engineering. The targets of this research include
Create advanced manufacturing technologies for nano-hybrid material systems
Elucidate their structure-property relationships
Realize high-performance functional composites/coatings and flexible electronics.
High-Throughput and Eco-Friendly Manufacturing of Nanomaterial-Based Coatings and Devices on Polymer Substrate
Nanomaterial-based devices/coatings on polymer substrate that integrate the functionality of nanomaterials and the flexibility of polymer substrates promise to revolutionize a wide range of industries, from electronics and energy to healthcare. The high-resolution requirements and potential health and environmental concern of using nanomaterials and toxic solvents present significant challenges for next-generation manufacturing technologies. HNAM lab is seeking high-throughput and eco-friendly strategies to manufacture and reuse nanomaterial-based coatings on polymers.
We have utilized weak sono field in combination with an interfacial energy design of a nanomaterial-polymer-solvent system to achieve ultrafast and eco-friendly assembly of a nanomaterial network on a polymer substrate using deionized (DI) water as the solvent. By the controlled application of such a strategy, we can apply uniform or controllably varied microscale coatings onto complex polymer substrate for various applications.
Fluidic-Assisted CVD Growth of Nanomaterials
Chemical vapor deposition has been used extensively for synthesizing two-dimensional (2D) materials, due to its low cost and promise for high-quality monolayer crystal synthesis. One of the key reasons behind the uncertainty of the CVD process is that it involves chemical reactions coupled with complex fluid mixing where the transfer of momentum, heat, and mass significantly affects the reaction process and thereafter the final product.
In collaboration with Dr. Qianhong Wu’s research group at Villanova, we are investigating the fundamental physical and chemical processes of CVD through advanced fluidic design and analysis. This research may establish a new fluidic perspective of CVD theory and revolutionize the way of designing future CVD setup.
Fluidic-Assisted Sorted Assembly of Nanomaterials
Nanomaterials are usually synthesized with a wide size distribution. To achieve stable and repeatable device performance, size sorting is usually required, which not only significantly increases the cost, but also reduces productivity.
We employ a new method of fluidic-assisted sorted assembly to simultaneously achieve nanomaterial sorting and assembly at the solution-polymer interface. In collaboration with Dr. Qianhong Wu’s group, advanced fluidic design and analytical tools are used to disclose the fundamental physics, design the assembly setup and predict the assembly results. This research has the potential to transform the flexible electronics manufacturing where the “cheap” raw nanomaterials (with wide size distribution) can be made into high-quality devices (with narrow size distribution) in a one-step assembly.