NIRT: Active Electromechanical Nanostructures Without the Use of Piezoelectric Constituents

拟议研究的目的是促进理论家和实验者之间的多学科合作，以了解和开发活跃的纳米结构建筑，如纳米复合材料皮肤和薄膜，这些结构不需要任何压电材料作为成分，原则上可以用任何材料组合来设计。从从头算到丰富的连续介质模型的建模方法将被用来加强对纳米尺度上的弯曲电性的理解，并为选择材料和设计具有所需对称性、拓扑结构和尺寸的高度优化的、明显是压电的纳米结构提供指导。通过精确控制形状合适的纳米颗粒在聚合物基质(从软弹性体到硬质热塑性塑料和热固性塑料)中的分散，并通过外场(流动、电磁和磁场)调节对称性并提供必要的纳米夹杂物的三维排列，将形成不同的拓扑结构。该计划的预期收益将是教育和社会效益。预期的研究成果是独立于大自然有限的活性机电材料选择，以及通过组装任意非活性材料组合来设计多功能的能力。除了在纳米尺度上解决与压电性有关的基本科学问题外，拟议的研究还有望在下一代致动器、传感器、MEMS和NEMS中得到技术应用，从而对不同的行业产生影响，如电子、空间和航空航天、生物医学、国防等。教育的影响是，本科生和研究生将接受新兴和跨学科学术研究方面的培训。研究和教育将通过(1)本科生暑期研究机会，(2)利用我们现有的NSF RET、REU和AGEP进行高中推广，以及(3)初中/高中学生示范，将重点放在教育、推广和招聘上。研究成果将被纳入课程，并通过会议报告、学术出版物和私人投资机构的网站广泛传播。

The objective of the proposed research is to promote a multi-disciplinary collaboration between theorists and experimentalists to understand and develop active nanostructured architectures such as nanocomposite skins and films that do not require any piezoelectric materials as constituents and in principle can be designed with any material combination. Modeling methods ranging from ab initio atomistic calculations to enriched continuum models will be employed to enhance understanding of flexoelectricity at the nanoscale and provide guidelines to select materials and engineer highly optimized, apparently piezoelectric nanostructures with the requisite symmetry, topology and size. The different topologies will be fabricated by precisely controlling the dispersion of suitably shaped nanoparticles in a polymer matrix (from soft elastomers to hard thermoplastics and thermosets) with external fields (flow, electrical & magnetic) as a means to tune the symmetry and provide the necessary 3-dimensional arrangement of the nanoinclusions. The expected benefits of the program will be both educational and societal. Anticipated research outcomes are an independence from Nature's limited selection of active electromechanical materials and an ability to design multifunctionality by assembling arbitrary non-active material combinations. Apart from resolutions of fundamental scientific questions related to piezoelectricity at the nanoscale, technological applications of the proposed research are anticipated in next generation actuators, sensors, MEMs and NEMs with consequent impact on diverse industries such as, Electronics, Space and Aerospace, Biomedical, Defense among others. The educational impact is that undergraduate and graduate students will be trained in emerging and interdisciplinary scholarly research. Research and education will be integrated by focusing on the education, outreach and recruitment through (1) Undergraduate summer research opportunities, (2) High School outreach using our existing NSF RET, REU and AGEP, and (3) Middle/High School student demonstrations. Research findings will be incorporated into courses, and broadly disseminated through conference presentations, scholarly publications, and the PIs's websites.