CAREER: Imaging and understanding the motion and interaction of nanoparticles near surfaces

In many applications, from drug delivery to water filtration, nanoparticles are transported through heterogeneous environments. Examples of such environments are crowded biological media and polymer filtration membranes. This project investigates the motion and interaction of nanoparticles with model systems of heterogeneous surfaces and with unprecedented resolution by developing a workflow that combines nanoscale microscopy with data-driven models. Visualizing and characterizing individual nanoparticles as they move and interact with surfaces will impact areas including nanomedicine, biology, and environmental remediation. On the educational aspect, this project will engage undergraduate students, K-12 students, and teachers in scientific research to broaden the participation of students in STEM fields. By developing simulation and experimental educational modules and a board game inspired by the scientific findings on nanoscale interactions, this project will engage the public and increase scientific literacy. Interactions of nanoparticles with their surrounding environment, such as nearby surfaces, play a foundational role in nanoscale transport processes involved in nanomedicine, environmental remediation, and sensing. This project will develop a new unified framework to directly visualize, characterize, model, and engineer the motion and interaction of single nanoparticles near surfaces with nanometer and millisecond resolution. By combining the emerging in situ liquid phase transmission electron microscopy, nanoscience, machine learning, and stochastic thermodynamics, the PI will develop a new single particle tracking technique that will enable probing the dynamics of single particles’ motion and interaction at a length scale inaccessible before. The results from this project offer new design rules for engineering the motion of nanoparticles near surfaces with impact in separations, sensing, and nanomedicine. Additionally, the PI will develop a science board game inspired by the physics of nanoscale interactions and how nanoparticles move on heterogeneous energy landscapes for local science festivals to engage the public in scientific research. Experimental and simulated educational modules will be developed in collaboration with a K-12 teacher to introduce high school students to the physics of diffusion and interaction. 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.