IRES: Nanofibrous Materials Challenge

IRES：纳米纤维材料挑战

• 批准号: 1261154
• 负责人: Andrei Stanishevsky
• 金额: $ 24.41万
• 依托单位: University of Alabama at Birmingham
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-05-15 至 2017-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1261154&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: IRES; Nanofibrous; Materials; Challenge

Technical This program will provide the international research experience to a group of at least 18 U.S. students at the Institute for Nanomaterials, Advanced Technology and Innovation at the Technical University of Liberec (CxI&TU-Liberec), Czech Republic. It is a premier institution in Central Europe heavily involved in nanofibrous materials (NFMs) research and commercialization of nanofiber electrospinning technologies. Nanofibers can demonstrate superior mechanical, optical and transport properties providing critical advantages to a variety of applications. The high surface area to volume ratio provides both a multitude of ways to interact along the fibers? length and the corresponding mechanical flexibility to bend into many different configurations at nanoscale. As a result of their nano-enabled unique properties, nanofiber-based materials have a wide range of applications in areas such as high performance filtration, energy generation, conversion and storage, wound healing and tissue engineering, and others. However, the potential for growth of the NFMs market is still hindered by limited ability to create the materials and structures with predictable complex, macroscopic architectures and desirable electronic, mechanical, and physiological properties.During the program, the IRES trainees from the University of Alabama at Birmingham will be able to participate in the operations of a largest nanofibrous materials enterprise in Europe. They will address the current challenges in nanofiber science and technology through: (I) the advancement of our basic understanding of all aspects of nanofiber properties and fabrication processes in order to direct the assembly of NFMs into desired configurations; and (II) the development of new processes for assembling NFMs networks and hierarchical architectures for demanding applications. It is expected that the outcomes of this IRES program will help to create a new generation of highly trained global workforce to significantly advance the knowledge base in NFMs. In a long-term, this IRES program will facilitate a broader synergistic coupling between domestic and international research and industrial groups within the NFMs domain by bringing new collaborators and facilitating multiple international links between the researchers and students in related areas.Non-technicalThe main theme of this IRES program is the emerging area of nanofibrous materials (NFMs). This large class of nanomaterials shows superior mechanical, electronic, and physiological properties that can provide critical advantages in a variety of energy, biomedical and environmental applications. The global market for NFMs is expected to rise above $4 billion by year 2017. There are currently over a hundred of companies in the NFMs business, and recent breakthroughs in NFMs are transforming many areas of science and engineering (for example, the first successful demonstration of NFM-based tissue engineered tracheal implant). However, the potential for growth of the NFMs market is still hindered by limited ability to make these materials with predictable complex, macroscopic architectures and desirable set of properties.This IRES program will provide the unique international hands-on experience in NFMs to a diverse group of U.S. undergraduate and graduate students at the Institute for Nanomaterials, Advanced Technology and Innovation at the Technical University of Liberec (CxI&TU-Liberec), Czech Republic. It is a premier institution and a largest nanofibrous materials enterprise in Central Europe. The IRES trainees from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) will explore the approaches to ?green? processes that can be used for the NFMs fabrication. The major challenge here is not only obtaining right formulations, but to develop the environmentally safe and economically feasible processes that can be transferred from a simple laboratory system to commercial NFMs equipment available at the host institution. The IRES trainees will also gain important international cultural sensitivity experience expanding beyond the each participant?s institution through the social activities and interactions with a diverse international student population at CxI&TU-Liberec. IRES undergraduate participants will also broaden their vision of global perspectives for a person with Masters or PhD degree in science and engineering. By providing IRES trainees with such training via experiential international modalities, we will empower them with a comprehensive set of capabilities in strategically important technological areas.

技术 该项目将为捷克共和国利贝雷茨科技大学 (CxI&TU-Liberec) 纳米材料、先进技术和创新研究所的至少 18 名美国学生提供国际研究经验。它是中欧主要从事纳米纤维材料（NFM）研究和纳米纤维静电纺丝技术商业化的机构。纳米纤维可以表现出卓越的机械、光学和传输特性，为各种应用提供关键优势。高表面积与体积比提供了多种沿着纤维相互作用的方式？长度和相应的机械灵活性，可以在纳米尺度上弯曲成许多不同的配置。由于纳米纤维的独特性能，纳米纤维材料在高性能过滤、能量产生、转换和存储、伤口愈合和组织工程等领域具有广泛的应用。然而，NFMs市场的增长潜力仍然受到有限的能力限制，无法创造具有可预测的复杂、宏观结构和理想的电子、机械和生理特性的材料和结构。在该项目期间，来自伯明翰阿拉巴马大学的IRES学员将能够参与欧洲最大的纳米纤维材料企业的运营。他们将通过以下方式应对当前纳米纤维科学和技术的挑战：(I) 增进我们对纳米纤维特性和制造工艺各个方面的基本了解，以便将 NFM 组装成所需的结构； (II) 开发用于组装 NFM 网络和分层架构的新流程，以满足高要求的应用。预计该 IRES 计划的成果将有助于培养新一代训练有素的全球劳动力，以显着推进 NFM 的知识基础。从长远来看，该IRES项目将通过引入新的合作者并促进相关领域的研究人员和学生之间的多种国际联系，促进NFM领域内的国内外研究和工业团体之间更广泛的协同耦合。非技术性该IRES项目的主题是纳米纤维材料（NFM）的新兴领域。这一大类纳米材料表现出优异的机械、电子和生理特性，可以在各种能源、生物医学和环境应用中提供关键优势。预计到 2017 年，全球 NFM 市场将超过 40 亿美元。目前有超过 100 家公司从事 NFM 业务，最近 NFM 的突破正在改变科学和工程的许多领域（例如，基于 NFM 的组织工程气管植入物的首次成功演示）。然而，NFM 市场的增长潜力仍然受到制造具有可预测的复杂、宏观结构和理想性能的这些材料的能力有限的阻碍。该 IRES 项目将为捷克利贝雷茨技术大学 (CxI&TU-Liberec) 纳米材料、先进技术和创新研究所的不同美国本科生和研究生群体提供独特的 NFM 国际实践经验 共和国。它是中欧首屈一指的机构和最大的纳米纤维材料企业。来自阿拉巴马大学伯明翰分校 (UAB) 的 IRES 学员将探索“绿色”方法。可用于 NFM 制造的工艺。这里的主要挑战不仅是获得正确的配方，而且是开发环境安全且经济可行的工艺，该工艺可以从简单的实验室系统转移到主办机构可用的商业 NFM 设备。 IRES 学员还将通过 CxI&TU-Liberec 的社交活动以及与多元化国际学生群体的互动，获得重要的国际文化敏感性经验，这些经验将扩展到每个参与者的机构之外。 IRES 本科生参与者还将拓宽拥有科学与工程硕士或博士学位的人的全球视野。通过通过体验式国际模式为 IRES 学员提供此类培训，我们将为他们提供具有战略重要性的技术领域的全面能力。