Interactions of Single Particle with Organic Matters: A Facile Bottom-Up Approach to Low Dimensional Nanostructures

Abstract

A particle induces a pack of chemical reactions in nanospace: chemical reactions confined into extremely small space provide an ultimate technique for the nanofabrication of organic matter with a variety of functions. Since the discovery of particle accelerators, an extremely high energy density can be deposited, even by a single isolated particle with MeV-ordered kinetic energy. However, this was considered to cause severe damages to organic molecules due to its relatively small bond energies, and lack of ability to control the reactions precisely to form the structures while retaining physico-chemical molecular functionalities. Practically, the severely damaged area along a particle trajectory: a core of a particle track has been simply visualized for the detection/dosimetry of an incident particle to the matters, or been removed to lead nanopores and functionalized by refilling/grafting of fresh organic/inorganic materials. The use of intra-track reactions in the so-called “penumbra” or “halo” area of functional organic materials has been realized and provided us with novel and facile protocols to provide low dimensional nano-materials with perfect size controllability in the 21st century. These protocols are now referred to as single particle nanofabrication technique (SPNT) and/or single particle triggered linear polymerization technique (STLiP), paving the way towards a new approach for nanomaterials with desired functionalities from original molecules. Herein, we report on the extremely wide applicability of SPNT/STLiP protocols for the future development of materials for opto-electronic, catalytic, and biological applications among others.

Polymerization Reactions and Modifications of Polymers by Ionizing Radiation

“…The resolution depends on physical factors associated with the precision of the beam pathway and penetration, on the scattering effects of the cascading energy transfer processes, and from the diffusion of the active chemical species that participate in the reaction. Three recent works that tackle the challenges of nanometric resolution in radiation-polymerizable films can illustrate this [26][27][28].…”

“…Polymerization of this monomer in the track of the swift heavy ions proceeds quite efficiently in comparison with crosslinking reaction of polymer layer treated under the same conditions. Nanowires with a cross-section lower than 10 nm were obtained and characterized after dissolution by chromatographic and spectroscopic methods to gain information on the free radical chemistry that takes place during the process [26,27].…”

Ubiquitous organic molecule-based free-standing nanowires with ultra-high aspect ratios

“…The strong interactions between the nanowire and substrate surfaces irreversibly fixed the nanowires on the substrate 39 , leading to their random distribution with a global worm-like chain configuration, which showed the flexibility of nanowires in the presence of the solvents, and the configuration could be interpreted based on the scaled macromolecular chain configuration in dilute solutions 40 . Macromolecular systems are also superior materials to promote the creation of latent nanowires in condensed phases via gelation, where insolubility of the macromolecules can be achieved with an average of one crosslink point per polymer molecule 41 . In contrast, it is presumed to be difficult to obtain nanowires, in which perfect immobilization of molecules occurs along the corresponding particle trajectory in the STLiP protocol.…”

Ubiquitous Organic Molecule-based Free-standing Nanowires with Ultra-high Aspect Ratios

“…The strong interactions between the nanowire and substrate surfaces irreversibly xed the nanowires on the substrate (37), leading to their random distribution with a global worm-like chain con guration, which showed the exibility of nanowires in the presence of the solvents, and the con guration could be interpreted based on the scaled macromolecular chain con guration in dilute solutions (38). Macromolecular systems are also superior materials to promote the creation of latent nanowires in condensed phases via gelation, where insolubility of the macromolecules can be achieved with an average of one crosslink point per polymer molecule (39). In contrast, it is presumed to be di cult to obtain nanowires in which perfect immobilization of molecules occurs along the corresponding particle trajectory in the STLiP protocol.…”