SUNRISE Project

Manager : Stephane Parola

The first task is to develop the synthesis and characterization of metal nanoparticles with specific size, shape, and chemical functionalization. In addition to providing samples to start the project, nanoparticle synthesis and characterization techniques will be shared among the partners to train young researchers. The mechanistic investigation will use advanced spectroscopic techniques to disentangle the contributions of electronic and photothermal effects in plasmon-assisted photoreactions, including photopolymerization and non-equilibrium self-assembly. The results will serve as a model for the design of plasmon-enhanced photoreactions.

Manager : Vitor Brasilense

New optics-based sub-diffractive fabrication techniques involving two-color manipulation of photoreactivity will be used to achieve nanoscale resolutions analogous to super-resolved imaging but at lower intensities. In subtractive or additive approaches, one wavelength initiates a photochemical reaction that is inhibited or enabled by a second beam. Photogeneration of a molecular gelling agent and its inhibitor will confine its diffusion, further limiting the non-equilibrium self-assembly triggered by the resulting critical concentration, triggered by nucleation growth, to sub-diffraction dimensions. Super-resolved operando monitoring of the surface modification process will be implemented in real-time using the novel ultrasensitive QPI technique (IdV patent) to enable unprecedented real-time mapping of surface reactions with nm resolution.

Manager : Olivier Soppera

Subdiffraction-limited patterning will be explored using plasmon-assisted photopolymerization. Plasmon resonance nanophotolithography will then be pushed to unprecedented limits with the ultimate goal of demonstrating the initiation of a photopolymerization reaction at the scale of a single (macro)molecule. Instead, the next step will be to investigate how plasmonic interactions can enhance triplet-triplet upconversion (TTA UC), with the goal of further improving the resolution of this two-photon process by nanoscale confinement of reactants and excitation.

Manager : Florent Malloggi

To apply photoinduced patterning to large surfaces, we will use laser-induced transfer (LIT) and self-assembly of nanocomposite films containing metal nanoparticles and catalysts. This flexible technique will be adapted to functionalize large surfaces (from mm to tens of cm2) with different nanomaterials deposited in micrometer-sized areas. And, thanks to laser-activated localized nanografting of nanoparticles, it will be used to functionalize specific areas of photoreactors in micro- or millifluidic devices for applications in photoinduced synthesis and detection.