abstract: The increasing pervasiveness of infections caused by multidrug-resistant bacteria (MDR) is a major global health issue that has been further exacerbated by the dearth of antibiotics developed over the past 40 years. Drug-resistant bacteria have led to significant morbidity and mortality, and ever-increasing antibiotic resistance threatens to reverse many of the medical advances enabled by antibiotics over the last 40 years. The traditional strategy for combating these superbugs involves the development of new antibiotics. Yet, only two new classes of antibiotics have been introduced to the clinic over the past two decades, and both failed to combat broad spectrum gram-negative bacteria. This situation demands alternative strategies to combat drug-resistant superbugs. Herein, these dissertation reports the development of potent antibacterials based on biomolecule-encapsulated two-dimensional inorganic materials, which combat multidrug-resistant bacteria using alternative mechanisms of strong physical interactions with bacterial cell membrane. These systems successfully eliminate all members of the ‘Superbugs’ set of pathogenic bacteria, which are known for developing antibiotic resistance, providing an alternative to the limited ‘one bug-one drug’ approach that is conventionally used. Furthermore, these systems demonstrate a multimodal antibacterial killing mechanism that induces outer membrane destabilization, unregulated ion movement across the membranes, induction of oxidative stress, and finally apoptotic-like cell death. In addition, a peptide-encapsulation of the two-dimensional material successfully eliminated biofilms and persisters at micromolar concentrations. Overall, these novel systems have great potential as next-generation antimicrobial agents for eradication of broad spectrum multidrug-resistant bacteria. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Chemistry 2019

付記する学位プログラム名: 京都大学卓越大学院プログラム「先端光・電子デバイス創成学」 / 京都大学 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(理学) / 甲第23690号 / 理博第4780号 / 新制||理||1684(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院理学研究科物理学・宇宙物理学専攻 / (主査)教授 田中 耕一郎, 教授 金光 義彦, 教授 柳瀬 陽一 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Science / Kyoto University / DFAM

abstract: Two-dimensional quantum materials have garnered increasing interest in a wide variety of applications due to their promising optical and electronic properties. These quantum materials are highly anticipated to make transformative quantum sensors and biosensors. Biosensors are currently considered among one of the most promising solutions to a wide variety of biomedical and environmental problems including highly sensitive and selective detection of difficult pathogens, toxins, and biomolecules. However, scientists face enormous challenges in achieving these goals with current technologies. Quantum biosensors can have detection with extraordinary sensitivity and selectivity through manipulation of their quantum states, offering extraordinary properties that cannot be attained with traditional materials. These quantum materials are anticipated to make significant impact in the detection, diagnosis, and treatment of many diseases. Despite the exciting promise of these cutting-edge technologies, it is largely unknown what the inherent toxicity and biocompatibility of two-dimensional (2D) materials are. Studies are greatly needed to lay the foundation for understanding the interactions between quantum materials and biosystems. This work introduces a new method to continuously monitor the cell proliferation and toxicity behavior of 2D materials. The cell viability and toxicity measurements coupled with Live/Dead fluorescence imaging suggest the biocompatibility of crystalline MoS2 and MoSSe monolayers and the significantly-reduced cellular growth of defected MoTe2 thin films and exfoliated MoS2 nanosheets. Results show the exciting potential of incorporating kinetic cell viability data of 2D materials with other assay tools to further fundamental understanding of 2D material biocompatibility. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Materials Science and Engineering 2019

<p>Technological advancements in electronics industry are driven by innovations in device fabrication techniques and development of novel materials. Halide perovskites are one of the latest additions to the semiconductor family. The performance of solid-state devices based on halide perovskites is now competing with other well-established semiconductors like silicon and gallium arsenide. However, the intrinsic instability of three-dimensional (3D) perovskites poses a great challenge in their widespread commercialization. The soft crystal lattice of hybrid halide perovskites facilitates anionic diffusion which impacts material stability, optoelectronic properties, and solid-state device performance.</p> <p>Two-dimensional (2D) halide perovskites with organic capping layers have been used for improving the extrinsic stability as well as suppressing intrinsic anionic diffusion. Nevertheless, a fundamental understanding of the role of compositional tuning, especially the impact of organic cations, in inhibiting anionic diffusion across the perovskite-ligand interface is missing. In our research, we first developed a library of atomically sharp and flat 2D heterostructures between two arbitrarily determined phase-pure halide perovskite single crystals. This platform was then used to perform a systematic investigation of anionic diffusion mechanism and quantify the impact of structural components on anionic inter-diffusion in halide perovskites. </p> <p>Stark differences were observed in anionic diffusion across 2D halide perovskite lateral and vertical heterostructures. Halide inter-diffusion in lateral heterostructures was found to be similar to the classical Fickian diffusion featuring continuous concentration profile evolution. However, vertical heterostructures show a “quantized” layer-by-layer diffusion behavior governed by a local free energy minimum and ion-blocking effects of the organic cations. For both lateral and vertical migrations, halide diffusion was found to be faster in perovskites with larger inorganic layer thickness. The increment becomes less apparent as the inorganic layer thickness increases, akin to the quantum confinement effect observed for band gaps. Furthermore, we found that bulkier and more rigid π-conjugated organic cations inhibit halide inter-diffusion much more effectively compared to short chain aliphatic cations. These results offer significant insights into the mechanism of anionic diffusion in 2D perovskites and provide a new materials platform for heterostructure assembly and device integration.</p>

Graphene is a two dimensional carbon material whose outstanding properties have been envisaged for a variety of applications. Cu-catalyzed chemical vapour deposition (Cu-CVD) is promising for large scale production of high quality monolayer graphene. But the existing Cu-CVD technology is not ready for industry-level production. It still needs to be improved on some aspects, three of which include synthesizing industrially useable graphene films under safe conditions, visualizing the domain boundaries of the continuous graphene, and understanding the kinetic features of the Cu-CVD process. This thesis presents the research aiming at these three objectives. By optimizing the Cu pre-treatments and the CVD process parameters, continuous graphene monolayers with the millimetre-scale domain sizes have been synthesized. The process safety has been ensured by delicately diluting the flammable gases. Through a novel optical microscope set up, the spatial distributions of the domains in the continuous Cu-CVD graphene films have been directly imaged and the domain boundaries visualised. This technique is non-destructive to the graphene and hence could help manage the domain boundaries of the large area graphene. By establishing the novel rate equations for graphene nucleation and growth, this study has revealed the essential kinetic characteristics of general Cu-CVD processes. For both the edge-attachment-controlled and the surface-diffusion-controlled growth, the rate equations for the time-evolutions of the domain size, the nucleation density, and the coverage are solved, interpreted, and used to explain various Cu-CVD experimental results. The continuous nucleation and inter-domain competitions prove to have non-trivial influences over the growth process. This work further examines the temperature-dependence of the graphene formation kinetics leading to a discovery of the internal correlations of the associated energy barriers. The complicated effects of temperature on the nucleation density are explored. The criteria for identifying the rate-limiting step is proposed. The model also elucidates the kinetics-dependent formation of the characteristic domain outlines. By accomplishing these three objectives, this research has brought the current Cu-CVD technology a large step forward towards practical implementation in the industry level and hence made high quality graphene closer to being commercially viable.

abstract: Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) is the most widely used method to grow large-scale single layer graphene. However, a systematic experimental study of the relationship between growth parameters and graphene film morphology, especially in the industrially preferred cold wall CVD, has not been undertaken previously. This research endeavored to address this and provide comprehensive insight into the growth physics of graphene on supported solid and liquid Cu films using cold wall CVD. A multi-chamber UHV system was customized and transformed into a cold wall CVD system to perform experiments. The versatile growth process was completely custom-automated by controlling the process parameters with LabVIEW. Graphene growth was explored on solid electrodeposited, recrystallized and thin sputter deposited Cu films as well as on liquid Cu supported on W/Mo refractory substrates under ambient pressure using Ar, H₂ and CH₄ mixtures. The results indicate that graphene grown on Cu films using cold wall CVD follows a classical two-dimensional nucleation and growth mechanism. The nucleation density decreases and average size of graphene crystallites increases with increasing dilution of the CH₄/H₂ mixture by Ar, decrease in total flow rate and decrease in CH₄:H₂ ratio at a fixed substrate temperature and chamber pressure. Thus, the resulting morphological changes correspond with those that would be expected if the precursor deposition rate was varied at a fixed substrate temperature for physical deposition using thermal evaporation. The evolution of graphene crystallite boundary morphology with decreasing effective C deposition rate indicates the effect of edge diffusion of C atoms along the crystallite boundaries, in addition to H₂ etching, on graphene crystallite shape. The roles of temperature gradient, chamber pressure and rapid thermal heating in C precursor-rich environment on graphene growth morphology on thin sputtered Cu films were explained. The growth mechanisms of graphene on substrates annealed under reducing and non-reducing environment were explained from the scaling functions of graphene island size distribution in the pre-coalescence regime. It is anticipated that applying the pre-coalescence size distribution method presented in this work to other 2D material systems may be useful for elucidating atomistic mechanisms of film growth that are otherwise difficult to obtain. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Materials Science and Engineering 2018

[pt] Materiais bidimensionais apresentam possibilidades de funcionalização que os tornam versáteis para diversas aplicações, tais como em dispositivos eletrônicos. A presença de poros nesses materiais pode trazer novas funções, como adsorção de gases, liberação controlada de fármacos e catálise. Os covalent organic frameworks (COFs) são uma nova classe de materiais orgânicos porosos cristalinos que têm recebido destaque em química reticular. O objetivo dessa dissertação é apresentar a síntese e caracterização de quatro novos COFs baseados em carbazóis, que constitui uma classe de compostos utilizada na obtenção de polímeros condutores. O bloco de montagem principal utilizado foi o 3,6-diamino-9H-carbazol e as fontes de aldeído foram triformilfloroglucinol, triformilfenol, 1,3,5-tri(4-formilfenil)benzeno e triformilbenzeno para a síntese do RIO2, RIO3, RIO5 e RIO6, respectivamente. RIO2 e RIO3 apresentaram-se sob a forma ceto enamina e imina, respectivamente, além de pouca cristalinidade e baixa área específica. Através de cálculos baseados na Teoria do Funcional da Densidade (DFT), foi verificado que esses COFs apresentam suas folhas deslocadas e rotacionadas devido às interações eletrostáticas e para minimizar os momentos de dipolo das ligações N-H dos carbazóis. RIO5 e RIO6 também se apresentaram pouco cristalinos e com áreas específicas baixas. Apesar desses resultados, esses materiais ainda podem ser aplicados em eletrônica orgânica por apresentarem estrutura química compatível com tal aplicação. / [en] Two-dimensional materials have functionalization possibilities that make them versatile for various applications such as in electronic devices. The presence of pores in these materials can give new features to them, such as gas adsorption, drug delivery and catalysis. The covalent organic frameworks (COFs) are a new class of crystalline porous organic materials that have been prominent in reticular chemistry. The purpose of this work is to present the synthesis and characterization of four new COFs based on carbazoles, which are a class of compounds used to obtain conductive polymers. The main building block used was 3,6-diamine-9H-carbazole with the aldehyde sources were triformylphloroglucinol, triformylphenol, 1,3,5-tri(4 formylphenyl)benzene and triformylbenzene to obtain RIO2, RIO3, RIO5 and RIO6, respectively. RIO2 and RIO3 are in keto-enamine and imine form, respectively, as well as have low crystallinity and low specific area. Calculus based on Density Functional Theory (DFT) found that these COFs present their sheets displaced and rotated due to electrostatic interactions and to minimize the dipole moments of the N-H bonds of carbazoles. In an attempt to avoid the absence of pores, RIO5 and RIO6 materials were synthesized, however these COFs also performed poorly crystalline and with low specific areas. Despite these results, these materials can also be applied in organic electronics by presenting chemical structure compatible with such application.