RII Track-4: Advanced Morphology Characterization of Nanostructured Cyclic and Linear Polymers and their Blends

RII Track-4：纳米结构环状和线性聚合物及其共混物的高级形态表征

• 批准号: 1833047
• 负责人: Julie Albert
• 金额: $ 17.05万
• 依托单位: Tulane University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2018-10-01 至 2022-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1833047&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RII; Track; Advanced; Morphology; Characterization

Non-Technical DescriptionOver the past thirty years, tremendous advancements have occurred in the microelectronics and healthcare industries, resulting in phones that are more powerful than the earliest computers and medical treatments that are more effective, less invasive, and capable of treating formerly untreatable ailments. This rapid technological growth was enabled by the creation of new materials and efforts to fully understand their chemical and physical properties. In order to sustain this level of growth, the search for new materials must continue. This project supports collaboration between university researchers and scientists from government laboratories in this search. In one area, fundamental research into the properties of block copolymers, a type of nanostructured rubbery plastic material, promises a new route to lithographic patterning on the nano-scale to facilitate the move from micro-electronics to nano-electronics that are faster and capable of greater data storage. In a second area, studies on biocompatible, biodegradable, semi-crystalline polymers will reduce the need for undesirable small molecule additives to control crystallization, thereby enhancing biocompatibility and safety for use in medical applications. The project promotes scientific advancement by supporting experiments that can be conducted only in state-of-the-art national laboratories. By nurturing close interactions between academia and government, the project trains students to connect their educational experiences to the goals of national health, prosperity, welfare, and the production of civically-mindful scientists and engineers. Technical DescriptionThe cyclic molecular architecture endows polymer materials with unique and useful physical properties compared to linear counterparts such as smaller nanostructure domain sizes in block copolymers and greater thin film stability. These polymers show great promise as additives for endowing linear polymer systems with desirable properties. However, the molecular level integration of linear and cyclic materials in topological blends is not well-understood. Advanced characterization experiments made possible through this fellowship produce the fundamental knowledge necessary to understand how topological blends (linear plus cyclic polymers) can be used to (1) enhance block copolymer nanostructure properties for nanolithgraphy and (2) regulate crystallization kinetics and morphology in semi-crystalline polymer films. These goals are achieved by revealing molecular mechanisms in these systems using resonant soft X-ray reflectivity (RSoXR) for the characterization of molecular distributions in block copolymer systems and broadband coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) for mapping the localization components in semi-crystalline polymer blend films. Host site visits, in which the PI and students work closely with experts at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, are important for understanding organization of materials at the molecular level and for sustaining long-term academic-government collaboration.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

非技术描述在过去的三十年中，微电子和医疗保健行业发生了巨大进步，导致手机比最早的计算机和医疗治疗更强大，这些手机更有效，侵入性较小，并且能够治疗以前不可治疗的疾病。通过创建新材料以及充分了解其化学和物理特性的努力，可以实现这种快速的技术增长。为了维持这种增长水平，必须继续寻找新材料。该项目支持大学研究人员与政府实验室的科学家之间的合作。 在一个区域中，对块共聚物的性质（一种纳米结构的橡胶塑料材料）的基础研究有望在纳米级上进行印刷图案的新途径，以促进从微电子学到更快且能够更大的数据存储的纳米电子学到纳米电子学。 在第二个领域，对生物相容性，可生物降解的半结晶聚合物的研究将减少对控制结晶的不良小分子添加剂的需求，从而增强生物相容性和在医疗应用中使用的安全性。该项目通过支持只能在最先进的国家实验室进行的支持实验来促进科学进步。 通过培养学术界与政府之间的紧密互动，该项目训练学生将他们的教育经验与国家健康，繁荣，福利的目标以及公民善良的科学家和工程师的生产联系起来。技术描述与线性同行相比，循环分子构造具有独特而有用的物理特性，例如块共聚物中较小的纳米结构域大小和更大的薄膜稳定性。这些聚合物作为赋予具有理想特性的线性聚合物系统的添加剂表现出巨大的希望。 然而，在拓扑混合物中线性和环状材料的分子水平整合并不理解。 通过这项奖学金使高级表征实验产生了理解拓扑混合物（线性加环聚合物）如何用于（1）增强纳米石学的块共聚物纳米结构特性的必要基本知识，并且（2）调节半结晶动力学和形态学。 这些目标是通过使用谐振软X射线反射率（RSOXR）在这些系统中揭示分子机制来实现的，以表征块共聚物系统中的分子分布和宽带相干的反stokes拉曼散射（CARS），以映射半晶体聚合物粉膜中的本地化组件。 主持现场访问与美国国家标准技术研究所的专家紧密合作，对于理解分子层面的材料组织并维持长期的学术政府合作非常重要。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并且通过基金会的知识优点和广泛的影响来评估NSF的法定任务。