Collaborative Research: A Polymer Synthesis/Membrane Characterization

0932781/0931761 Emrick/FreemanPI建议开展以净水膜用聚合物涂层的制备、应用和表征为中心的合作基础研究。PIS认识到，改进净水膜和工艺是21世纪的一项至关重要的科学和技术挑战，人口增长和淡水供应日益紧张的结合在一起，在美国和世界范围内都构成了严重的社会威胁。在这项计划中，通过聚合物合成和膜表征协作来加速发现改进净水膜，这将使用于制备膜和改性膜表面的新型聚合物材料能够快速而有效地进行测试。该研究计划优化了用于净水膜的防污染涂料，特别是将坚固的聚烯烃-接枝-聚乙二醇共聚物作为平台聚合物作为膜的涂层。提出了一种新的聚合物涂料合成方法和表征方法，以评价新型涂料在防止膜污染方面的效果。两性聚合物，如磷酰胆碱和磺基甜菜碱结构，以及聚多巴胺涂层，构成了这些努力的基础。已阐明的膜防污染策略被扩展到生物污染问题，这对于提高膜生物反应器的应用具有重要意义。更广泛的影响和教育努力，旨在最大限度地发挥研究的影响，并激发普通公众、聚合物/工程界、弱势群体和少数族裔社区成员对材料和工程研究的兴趣，这些研究通过其净水目标具有社会重要性。PIS将强调对研究界和公众都有影响的努力，包括：1)在全部或部分致力于聚合物膜和水净化的研究会议上发挥组织和领导作用。其中突出的活动将是美国化学学会半年一次的全国会议的膜会议，包括盐湖城会议(2009年3月)和在加利福尼亚州文图拉举行的高分子材料戈登研究会议(2011年1月)。2)面向本科生、女性和少数族裔学生、普通公众和残障(听力障碍)学生的教育活动。活动将包括创建用于奥斯汀儿童博物馆科学星期日的净水活动群，以及德克萨斯聋人学校(TSD)的学生参加德克萨斯大学实验室的膜和分离研究经验。3)技术转让战略，产生和维持私人投资机构与私营部门之间的关系，并简化对潜在商业影响的发现，促进美国在全球科学界的竞争力。PI以前的技术转让经验加速了这一进程，他们参加了UMASS聚合物工业研究中心的半年一次的会议。

0932781/0931761Emrick/FreemanThe PIs propose collaborative fundamental research centered on the preparation, application, and characterization of polymer coatings for water purification membranes. The PIs recognize that advancing water purification membranes and processes is a critically important scientific and technological challenge of the 21st Century, and that the combination of population growth and increasing strain on fresh water supplies poses a serious societal threat, both in the United States and worldwide. Accelerating discoveries that improve water purification membranes is accomplished in this proposal through a polymer synthesis and membrane characterization collaboration, which will enable a rapid and effective testing of novel polymer materials used to prepare membranes and to modify membrane surfaces. The research plan optimizes anti-fouling coatings for water purification membranes, focusing especially on robust polyolefin-graft-PEG copolymers as a platform polymer to act as a coating for membranes. A new proposed polymer syntheses for coatings and characterization methods that evaluate the effectiveness of the new coatings in preventing membrane fouling is proposed. Zwitterionic polymers, such as phosphorylcholine and sulfobetaine structures, as well as poly(dopamine) coatings, form the basis of these efforts. The strategies elucidated for anti-fouling membranes are extended to the problem of biofouling, which is important for advancing the utility of membrane bioreactors. Broader impact and education efforts that are designed to maximize the impact of the research, and excite the general public, the polymer/engineering communities, and disadvantaged and minority community members about materials and engineering research that carries societal importance through its objectives of water purification. The PIs will emphasize efforts that impact both the research community and the general public, including: 1) Organization and leadership roles in research conferences that are devoted, in whole or in part, to polymer membranes and water purification. Prominent among the activities will be membrane sessions at semi-annual National meetings of the American Chemical Society, including sessions at the Salt Lake City ACS meeting (March 2009) and the Macromolecular Materials Gordon Research Conference in Ventura, CA (January 2011). 2) Activities geared towards the education of undergraduates, female and minority students, the general public, and physically challenged (hearing impaired) students. Activities will include the creation of a water purification activity cluster designed for use at the Austin Children's Museum's Science Sundays, and participation of students from the Texas School for the Deaf (TSD) in the UT laboratory for a research experience in membranes and separation. 3) Technology transfer strategies that generate and sustain relationships between the PIs and the private sector, and that streamline discoveries towards potential commercial impact, contributing to American competitiveness in the global scientific community. The PI's prior technology transfer experience accelerate this process, as will their participation in semi-annual meetings of the Center for UMass-Industry Research on Polymers.