手性光子晶体的构建及手性检测

Chirality is one of the fundamental properties in nature. Recognition and detection of chiral matters have long been a hot research topic in the scientific community. Recent reports have revealed that interactions between chiral molecules and noble metal/semiconductor nanoparticles can induce the optical activity of nanoparticles in the visible light region. This novel "chirality at nanoscale" provides us with a novel route to detection of various chiral molecules. However, current research is still focused on understanding of nano-chirality, and generally single nanoparticles or random nanoparticle aggregation are used as the sensors, which limit the detection sensitivity and reproducibility. In this proposal, we suggest a new concept of "chiral photonic crystals". Thanks to many advantages of photonic crystals, e.g., capability of loading with varying materials, long-range order, and controllable optical properties, the utilization of chiral photonic crystals may be expected to bring about a breakthrough to the field of chiral detection. The proposed project is comprised of three aspects: (1) Fabricating chiral photonic crystals with chiral soft matters through template method; (2) Studying the optical activity of chiral photonic crystals via manipulation of the optical stop band; (3) Functionalizing the material and realizing chiral detection. The applicant hopes that this study could unveil the key factors for formation of chiral photonic crystals, and further develop optical sensors for chiral molecule detection.

手性是自然界的基本属性之一，如何区分和检测手性物质一直以来就是科学家研究的热点。近期研究表明，手性分子与贵金属或半导体纳米颗粒的复合，可以使纳米颗粒产生新的可见光区的光学活性，这种"纳米尺度的手性"为各类手性分子的检测提供了新的途径。然而，目前的报道主要集中在机理和模型性的研究，且一般采用单个纳米颗粒或其无序组装体，检测效果有待提高。因此，申请者提出构建手性光子晶体的研究思路。由于光子晶体具有选材广泛、有序性高和光学性质可调等诸多特点，有望突破纳米材料进行手性物质识别的研究瓶颈。本项目主要分为如下三个方面：（1）利用模板法将手性软物质构建成为手性光子晶体；（2）通过选择合适的材料和调节光子晶体的能带位置，诱导光子晶体产生光学活性；（3）对光子晶体进行进一步修饰，实现手性分子的检测。申请者希望本研究能使人们充分了解构建手性光子晶体的关键因素，为发展用于手性生物分子检测的光学传感器服务。

本项目着重围绕“手性纳米结构单元及其组装体的设计、构建及功能调控”开展系统研究。通过构建基元的选择及基元间相互作用的调控，实现了系列手性纳米结构单元及其组装体的可控构建，实现了对其光学性质等的有效调控，着重探索了该类组装体在手性分子检测、催化、分离等中的潜在应用价值，为其将来在纳米光学器件、传感、能源等方面的多领域的应用提供了依据与参考。