Tailoring Polymer Nanocomposite Properties by Nanoparticle Assembly

通过纳米颗粒组装定制聚合物纳米复合材料性能

• 批准号: 1106180
• 负责人: Sanat Kumar
• 金额: $ 42万
• 依托单位: Columbia University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-06-01 至 2014-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1106180&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Tailoring; Polymer; Nanocomposite; Properties; Nanoparticle

TECHNICAL SUMMARY: Novel materials based on polymer-grafted nanoparticles (NP) are the focus of this proposal. Since inorganic NPs and organic polymers typically "dislike" each other, these "hairy" particles behave like block-copolymers or amphiphiles. They can, therefore, self-assemble into a range of superstructures when placed in an organic matrix. Understanding the factors controlling NP assembly, and how this assembly state affects the properties of the resulting material are the central issues of interest. As part of this global effort, four questions will be addressed in this proposal, two of which relate to the fundamentals of the assembly process, while the last two refer to the relationship between the NP assembly state and resulting properties: (i) Can the materials science that governs block-copolymer-inspired "hairy" NP assembly be critically delineated ? (ii) Can NP assembly be directed using external fields, e.g., shear, with the ultimate goal of designing membranes with directional transport properties? (iii) Can grafted NPs be assembled at interfaces with the aim of compatibilizing immiscible polymer blends? Note that this proposal will only address experimental aspects here, but shall leverage two parallel theoretical efforts in the PIs group. Thus, a combined theory and experiment based approach will be used to understand the fundamental underpinnings of the applications of this novel class of materials.NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: The main assertion of this proposal is that the control over the spatial distribution of nanoparticles is central to creating new polymeric materials with tunable properties. Thus, it is expected that the proposed work will critically impact a range of novel applications, e.g., self-healing materials, organic photovoltaics, batteries, water purification membranes, drug delivery, and advanced lithography. These transformative research activities are coupled to extensive education and outreach activities. Motivated by recent successes in recruiting high school and undergraduate students for summer research, the PI will recruit (and retain) underrepresented students, both women and minorities, into the Chemical Engineering department at Columbia. The PI is also working with the Chemical Engineering department at the City College of New York and the New York Academy of Sciences to bring together academics in the Greater New York area (faculty and students), local industry and national laboratories in an annual chemical engineering symposium. The goal is, not only to place students into local industry, but also to attract industrial participants into higher degree and/or refresher programs at Columbia.

技术摘要：基于聚合物接枝纳米颗粒（NP）的新型材料是该提案的重点。由于无机NP和有机聚合物通常彼此“不喜欢”，因此这些“毛茸茸的”颗粒的行为就像块状聚合物或两亲。因此，当将其放置在有机基质中时，它们可以自组装成一系列的上层建筑。了解控制NP组装的因素，以及该组装状态如何影响所得材料的性质是感兴趣的核心问题。作为这项全球努力的一部分，该提案将解决四个问题，其中两个问题与组装过程的基本面有关，而最后两个是指NP组装状态和结果属性之间的关系：（i）批判性地划定了由块状聚合物启发的“ hairy” NP组装的材料科学？ （ii）可以使用外部磁场（例如剪切）指导NP组件，其最终目标是设计具有方向运输特性的膜？ （iii）可以将移植的NP组装在界面上，以使不混溶的聚合物混合物兼容？请注意，该提案只能在此处解决实验方面，但应利用PIS组的两项平行理论努力。因此，将使用基于理论和实验的方法来理解这种新型材料的应用的基本基础。Non-technical摘要：该建议的主要断言是，对纳米颗粒的空间分布的控制是创建具有可调性的新聚合物材料的核心。因此，预计拟议的工作将严重影响一系列新型应用，例如自我修复材料，有机光伏，电池，水纯化膜，药物输送和高级光刻。这些变革性的研究活动与广泛的教育和外展活动相结合。在最近在招募高中和本科生进行夏季研究方面取得的成功的动机，PI将招募（并保留）妇女和少数民族的代表性不足的学生进入哥伦比亚的化学工程系。 PI还与纽约市城市学院和纽约科学学院的化学工程系合作，在大纽约地区（教职员工和学生），当地工业和国家实验室在年度化学工程专题讨论会中将学者汇总在一起。目标不仅是将学生纳入本地行业，还将学生吸引工业参与者进入哥伦比亚的更高学位和/或复习计划。