Colloidal Nanomaterials for Smart Applications

Project Information

COMPASS

Grant agreement ID: 691185

DOI

10.3030/691185

Project closed

EC signature date 30 November 2015

Start date 1 March 2016

End date 29 February 2020

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 859 500,00

EU contribution

€ 859 500,00

Coordinated by

FONDAZIONE ISTITUTO ITALIANO DI TECNOLOGIA
Italy

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - COMPASS (Colloidal Nanomaterials for Smart Applications)

Reporting period: 2018-03-01 to 2020-02-29

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Colloidal nanocrystals (NCs) are an emerging and rapidly developing class of materials with continuously increasing potential for applications in a wide range of fields from optoelectronics to medicine. The progress is driven by narrow size distributions of just few percent, rational shape-engineering, compositional modulation, and tailored surface chemistries that are feasible for a broad range of inorganic compounds. In photovoltaics and light emitting devices the performance of inorganic NC-based devices is competitive to other state-of-the-art technologies as manifested also by colloidal quantum dot displays and biomarkers that are commercially available on the market. Also, the development of nanoscale catalysts based on nanoparticles, with control over the composition and the spatial arrangement of domains of different materials in a single nanoscale object is giving new boosts to catalysis. Finally, the exploitation of nanocrystals in medicine is and extremely active area of research, both in diagnosis and therapy. Exciting directions here are represented by deep tissue imaging, NMR imaging, drug delivery and hyperthermia, both magnetically and laser induced.
The main scientific goals of COMPASS were:
1. The development of colloidal nanomaterials with tailored properties by precise engineering of their form and composition, combined with deep understanding of the underlying kinetics.
2. The demonstration of fabrication processes capable of upscaling the nanomaterial production (i.e. robot-controlled reactor syntheses with in situ characterization).
3. Understanding and mastering the mechanisms of assembly of nanocrystals into ordered
superstructures with the aim to create novel 2D-3D materials with unprecedented physical
properties.
4. Expanding the knowledge on nanoscale transformations in nanocrystals, both via experimental and computational approached, and exploiting this knowledge to enlarge the toolkit of fabrication routes to nanomaterials.
5. The development and testing new nanoscale hybrid materials for light harvesting and for
heterogeneous catalysis.
6. To fabricate complex multifunctional materials for bio imaging.
7. The demonstration of the versatility of the nanomaterials in prototype devices.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The COMPASS project significantly enlarged the nanocrystal material platform and the related applications. From the material side, the synthesis of the more traditional dichalcogenide nanocrystals was significantly advanced by, for example, developing a library of selenourea precursors for their synthesis, and by the demonstration of upscaled fabrication through robotized processes. Surface functionalization and self-assembly of the particles lead to films with improved properties, such as in the upconversion of the emitted light, in light-emitting diodes (LEDs), solar concentrators, and in biomedical applications. Water-soluble and bio-compatible polymer beads have been developed that can be used as carriers for light emitting, plasmonic, and magnetic nanoparticles, which enabled to combine different functionalities, such as tracking, guiding, and treatment (via hyperthermia) into single object.
COMPASS also contributed strongly to the advancement of colloidal metal-halide perovskite nanocrystals which emerged only recently as a promising material. Here the COMPASS team demonstrated several synthesis protocols and methods for increasing their stability in different environments, including ion-exchange methods, the use of different amines as ligands, 0D to 3D transition mechanisms, two-dimensional layered perovskites, and lead-free double perovskite structures. Applications of these materials in LEDs and lasing structures, solar cells, photodetectors, and in catalysis could be demonstrated as a proof of concept. The photophysics of these materials was studied in great depth, and the gained knowledge led to the design of novel photonic and plasmonic systems that could be employed to boost their performance in optical applications.
So far, the COMPASS project resulted in 58 high impact publications and several patent applications.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The COMPASS project united key players in Europe and the US with the aim to advance the field of colloidal nanocrystal (NC) synthesis and assembly and their exploitation in photonics, sensing, energy conversion and medicine. Our project had high ambitions for what concerns education and training of a new generation of scientists. COMPASS provided the framework for an interdisciplinary education to young scientists in an international environment at the highest possible level, promoted exchange of knowledge and skills across different scientific disciplines, in order to boost the advancement of nanocrystal research and their related applications. More than forty researchers were involved in the scientific exchanges of COMPASS, and the project could contribute significantly to the advancement of their careers by enabling them to gain prestigious postdoc and professor positions. COMPASS provided dedicated training to the staff of the partner institutions by the secondments itself, and via several invited seminars and one internal workshop. The project organized a symposium dedicated to the Colloidal Nanocrystal Materials at the Applied Nanotechnology and Nanoscience International Conference (ANNIC) in Berlin in 2018 that was open to the whole scientific community. The project strengthened the scientific community in Europe that work on nanomaterials for a sustainable future.

The approach of the COMPASS project to advance the science on nanocrystal materials, from material d