The Matter Compiler
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Sussex
Department Name: Chemistry
Abstract
An ambition to assemble molecules and materials under atomically precise control demands a big leap forward in control engineering and computer science. Is it possible to anticipate the properties and needs of a 'nano-assembler'? If so, there is a need for a high level instruction language and a computer compiler that translates commands in this language into instructions for the 'nano-assembler'. This development will require a breakthrough in understanding of chemical synthesis that must embrace the radically new 'pick and place' assembly method which is now possible in scanning probe microscopy (SPM). The Matter Compiler project is thus both an exercise in foresight, to anticipate developments in this area, and a prototype implementation for the engineering control and computer science aspects of directed molecular assembly. It has as inputs data from SPM experiments of collaborators, energy landscapes for 'pick and place' reactions and the vast knowledge base of classical synthetic chemistry, including methodologies such as retrosynthesis. This will be supplemented by reaction schemes for 'pick and place' reactions deduced from energy landscapes calculated from first principles and the technology of object oriented databases and inference engines.This result will be a first important and fundamental step towards the still distant vision of directed molecular assembly.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
Malcolm Heggie (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Calvin Davidson
(2011)
Views of dislocations - from agents of weakness to a possible molecular workbench
Davidson Calvin Ray
(2012)
Towards the matter compiler : looking ahead to computer-controlled molecular assembly
Ewels CP
(2015)
Predicting experimentally stable allotropes: Instability of penta-graphene.
in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Ly D
(2011)
The Matter Compiler-towards atomically precise engineering and manufacture
in Nanotechnology Perceptions
Description | This was an adventurous proposal that came out of a 'sandpit' exercise, where EPSRC chose the participants. This subproject was to look into ways in which the philosophy behind compilation of computer programs could be applied to the production of matter (molecules). This part of the work concerned using first principles modelling to understand possible molecular configurations and reactions at surfaces. |
Exploitation Route | There is the ground work here for a continued effort towards the Matter Compiler. |
Sectors | Chemicals,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software) |
URL | http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/39588/ |
Description | Work within the Matter Compiler project on simulating the STM identification of defects in graphite and the interlayer interaction have informed the on-going research programme into graphite radiation damage with economic impact for the UK fleet of Advanced Gas-cooled Reactors. |
First Year Of Impact | 2014 |
Sector | Energy |
Impact Types | Economic |