NIRT: Active Electromechanical Nanostructures Without the Use of Piezoelectric Constituents

拟议研究的目标是促进理论家和实验家之间的多学科合作，以了解和开发活性纳米结构体系结构，如纳米复合材料皮肤和薄膜，不需要任何压电材料作为成分，原则上可以设计任何材料组合。建模方法，从从头算原子计算，丰富的连续模型将被用来提高在纳米级的flexoelectricity的理解，并提供指导方针，选择材料和工程高度优化，显然是压电纳米结构与必要的对称性，拓扑结构和大小。不同的拓扑结构将通过精确控制适当形状的纳米颗粒在聚合物基体（从软弹性体到硬热塑性塑料和热固性塑料）中的分散来制造，外部场（流动，电磁）作为调节对称性并提供必要的三维排列纳米夹杂物的手段。该计划的预期效益将是教育和社会。预期的研究成果是独立于自然界有限的活性机电材料选择，并通过组装任意非活性材料组合来设计多功能性的能力。除了解决与纳米级压电相关的基本科学问题外，预计拟议研究的技术应用将在下一代致动器，传感器，MEMS和NEM中产生，从而对电子，空间和航空航天，生物医学，国防等不同行业产生影响。教育影响是本科生和研究生将接受新兴和跨学科学术研究的培训。研究和教育将通过以下方式整合：（1）本科夏季研究机会，（2）使用我们现有的NSF RET，REU和AGEP的高中外展，以及（3）中学/高中学生演示。研究结果将被纳入课程，并通过会议报告，学术出版物和PI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.