Salley, D., Keenan, G., Grizou, J. , Sharma, A. , Martín, S. and Cronin, L. (2020) A nanomaterials discovery robot for the Darwinian evolution of shape programmable gold nanoparticles. Nature Communications, 11, 2771. (doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-16501-4) (PMID:32488034) (PMCID:PMC7265452)
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Abstract
The fabrication of nanomaterials from the top-down gives precise structures but it is costly, whereas bottom-up assembly methods are found by trial and error. Nature evolves materials discovery by refining and transmitting the blueprints using DNA mutations autonomously. Genetically inspired optimisation has been used in a range of applications, from catalysis to light emitting materials, but these are not autonomous, and do not use physical mutations. Here we present an autonomously driven materials-evolution robotic platform that can reliably optimise the conditions to produce gold-nanoparticles over many cycles, discovering new synthetic conditions for known nanoparticle shapes using the opto-electronic properties as a driver. Not only can we reliably discover a method, encoded digitally to synthesise these materials, we can seed in materials from preceding generations to engineer more sophisticated architectures. Over three independent cycles of evolution we show our autonomous system can produce spherical nanoparticles, rods, and finally octahedral nanoparticles by using our optimized rods as seeds.
| Item Type: | Articles |
|---|---|
| Status: | Published |
| Refereed: | Yes |
| Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: | Martin Marti, Mr Sergio and Keenan, Mr Graham and Sharma, Mr Abhishek and Grizou, Dr Jonathan and Salley, Mr Daniel and Cronin, Professor Lee |
| Authors: | Salley, D., Keenan, G., Grizou, J., Sharma, A., Martín, S., and Cronin, L. |
| College/School: | College of Science and Engineering > School of Chemistry |
| Journal Name: | Nature Communications |
| Publisher: | Nature Research |
| ISSN: | 2041-1723 |
| ISSN (Online): | 2041-1723 |
| Copyright Holders: | Copyright © 2020 The Authors |
| First Published: | First published in Nature Communications 11: 2771 |
| Publisher Policy: | Reproduced under a Creative Commons License |
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