This $500,000 Project Grant from the National Science Foundation Division of Materials Research supports the development of antibody-mimicking polymeric nanoparticles for site-specific protein labeling and protein-binding applications. Funded under the Mathematical and Physical Sciences program (CFDA 47.049), Professor Yan Zhao at Iowa State University will pursue two aims - site-specific labeling of proteins with single or multiple tags using the nanoparticles, and developing nanoparticle...
This $371,708 Project Grant awarded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under the Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) supports fundamental research at Cornell University to develop heuristic rules for enhancing the stability and kinetic accessibility of nanoparticle superlattices. The research aims to formulate and test molecular-simulation based heuristics to predict the correlation between nanoparticle interactions and their self-assembly into target superlattice structures, including for...
The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded a $425,000 Project Grant under the Mathematical and Physical Sciences program (CFDA 47.049) to Northwestern University for a 3-year research project on the "Transient Physicochemical Properties of Nanomaterials." The grant supports experimental studies by Professor Richard Schaller to investigate the crystal lattices, surfaces, and surface ligand behavior of semiconductor and metal nanoparticles. The research aims to elucidate the...
This $589,486 National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Civil, Mechanical, and Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI) Project Grant award, effective September 1, 2023 through August 31, 2028, supports research by Iowa State University of Science and Technology to develop an integrated experimental-computational framework for understanding the fundamental mechanics of crumpled nanostructures and how surface adhesion can enhance their load-bearing capacity and defect tolerance. The research will...
This $450,000 Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) aims to understand and control the interfacial dynamics governing the formation of discrete tiles of nanoparticle assemblies on functionalized fluid interfaces. The research combines experimental and computational methods to investigate and manipulate the thermodynamic and kinetic factors influencing nanoparticle assembly at fluid interfaces. The goal is to achieve precise control...
This $155,000 Project Grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Office of Integrative Activities (CFDA 47.083) supports fundamental research at Iowa State University to understand how nanoparticle self-assembly can be integrated into laser/powder-based additive manufacturing (AM) of multimodal metallic materials. The overall goal is to gain a deeper understanding of the mechanisms governing nanoparticle self-assembly behavior, microstructure evolution, and property enhancements in AM of...
This $270,000 Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Mathematical and Physical Sciences (CFDA 47.049) program will support a collaborative research project between the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) and Northern Illinois University (NIU) to investigate the molten salt synthesis of metal oxide nanoparticles. The research team, led by Yuanbing Mao of IIT and Tao Li of NIU, will use advanced in situ X-ray scattering and spectroscopy techniques at Argonne National...
This National Science Foundation (NSF) Engineering (CFDA 47.041) project grant award of $269,542, effective March 1, 2025 through February 29, 2028, supports a collaborative research project led by Rutgers, The State University to develop a data science-enabled approach for learning, predicting, and simulating the behavior of nanoparticle populations in advanced nanomanufacturing processes. The project aims to combine numerical simulations with in-situ environmental transmission electron...
Iowa State University received a $489,533 Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation Division of Chemistry under the Mathematical and Physical Sciences federal grant program (CFDA 47.049). The award will fund research from July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2026 to study emerging multinary semiconductors comprised of multiple elements through solution-phase chemistry synthesis. Specifically, the university will (1) study the evolution of perovskite chalcogenide nanocrystals for...
This $250,000 Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Division of Materials Research (CFDA 47.049 - Mathematical and Physical Sciences) supports research to design and discover new "heteroanionic" materials containing multiple types of negatively charged anion atoms. The goal is to understand how the atomic-scale structure of these complex materials influences their electronic, magnetic, and optical properties, enabling the development of advanced materials for...
This $288,229 federal Project Grant awarded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Materials Research supports theory, computation, and education to advance the engineering of nanoparticle-based materials. The project aims to develop a comprehensive computational framework to predict the structure and properties of functional nanomaterials, which will be made available to the broader research community. The work will be conducted at Iowa State University and involve collaborative efforts with research groups in Argentina and Switzerland to verify the predictive theory through experimental validation. The project also includes broader impact activities focused on engaging middle school students in the Des Moines school district with hands-on nanoscience education and experiences on the Iowa State campus. This initiative aligns with the NSF's Mathematical and Physical Sciences (CFDA 47.049) program, which seeks to advance scientific knowledge and address national research priorities in these domains.