IRES: Nanofibers for Resource Efficiency

IRES：纳米纤维促进资源效率本项目的一个主题基础是纳米纤维这一新兴领域。纳米纤维的直径比通过机械拉伸生产的传统微纤维的直径小一到四个数量级。由于其尺寸小，纳米纤维可以显示出在许多应用中提供关键优势的优异性能。纳米纤维在高性能过滤、电池和燃料电池、伤口修复、复合材料增强材料、血管和组织工程、智能纺织品、药物输送、气体传感器、电子和催化等领域的应用日益广泛。2014年至2020年间，全球NF市场预计将以35%的年增长率增长，到2017年将达到约10亿美元。发展规模可观、绿色环保的绿色产业有着巨大的需求。从更广泛的材料中生产核素，为核素加工成功能结构提供了更容易的方法，并培养了一支熟练的劳动力队伍。这个IRES将为至少18名来自伯明翰阿拉巴马大学的本科生和研究生提供独特的实践经验和前沿纳米纤维制造方法以及纳米纤维测试和应用的重要知识，通过在捷克共和国的利伯莱克技术大学(TUL)和波兰催化和生物燃料领域的地区领先者罗兹工业大学(UT-Lodz)提供密集的研究项目。学生将发展所需的实用技能，以解决核科技方面的知识差距，将他们的经验带回本国机构，并帮助为这一新兴市场培养一支具有全球能力的劳动力队伍。通过使用凝聚力的方法，并利用国家和地区的互补专业知识、设施和传统，将提高该IRES项目的智力以及社会和经济效益。该项目将为来自阿拉巴马大学伯明翰分校的18名学生提供一个独特的机会，在捷克共和国利伯莱克技术大学(TUL)和波兰罗兹理工大学(UT-Lodz)开展为期8周的纳米纤维科学、技术、生物医学和能源应用前沿研究。TUL是纳米纤维研究和商业化的领先学术中心，罗兹理工大学(UT-Lodz)是多相催化领域的地区领导者。纳米纤维是一大类材料，可以表现出纳米级的独特性能，这在更大的规模上是无法实现的。然而，纳米纤维材料市场的增长潜力仍然受制于有限的能力，无法有效地产生大量具有可预测和可控制的复杂宏观结构和理想性能的纳米纤维。学生们将在TUL学习一种新的高速交流电纺(AC-ESPING)工艺，它揭示了几种新的物理现象，有助于克服常用的直流电纺的主要缺点，如？鞭打？不稳定和剩余电荷，同时将工艺生产率提高1.2个数量级。学生将探索在UT-Lodz的许多反应中具有更高的活性、选择性和稳定性的先进催化系统的精选核素材料，以及在TUL测试的其他应用。在旅行前培训、国外现场工作和旅行后活动中，学生将重点提高对新兴的高速交流静电纺丝各方面的基本了解，以指导将纳米纤维组装成所需的配置，并刺激用于多相催化、生物医学和其他潜在应用的纳米纤维材料的商业化工艺的开发。总体而言，该计划将通过引入新的合作者并促进相关领域研究人员和学生之间的多种国际联系，促进美国和国际研究小组在纳米纤维研究和制造领域更广泛的长期合作。

IRES: Nanofibers for Resource EfficiencyA thematic basis of this program is the emerging area of nanofibers. Nanofibers have diameters from one to four orders of magnitude smaller than the diameters of conventional microfibers produced by mechanical drawing. As a result of their small size, nanofibers can demonstrate superior properties that provide critical advantages in many applications. Nanofibers (NF) are increasingly explored in high performance filtration, batteries and fuel cells, wound healing, composite material reinforcements, blood vessel and tissue engineering, smart textiles, drug delivery, gas sensors, electronics, and catalysis. The global market for NF is expected to grow at an annual growth rate of 35% between 2014 and 2020 and reach ~$1 billion by 2017. There are huge needs in the development of sizeable and ?green? production of NF from a larger range of materials, providing easier ways for NF processing into functional structures, and developing a skilled workforce. This IRES will provide at least 18 undergraduate and graduate students from the University of Alabama at Birmingham with unique hands-on experience and significant knowledge of cutting-edge NF fabrication methods, as well as NF testing and application by providing an intense research program at the Technical University of Liberec (TUL), Czech Republic, a leading academic center in nanofiber research and commercialization, and at the Lodz University of Technology (UT-Lodz), a regional leader in catalysis and bio-fuels in Poland. Students will develop practical skills needed to address the knowledge gaps in NF science and technology, bring their experiences back to their home institutions, and help to develop a global-capable workforce for this emerging market. By using a cohesive approach and drawing on complementary expertise, facilities and traditions across the nations and regions, will enhance the intellectual as well as the societal and economic returns of this IRES program.This program will provide 18 students from the University of Alabama at Birmingham with a unique opportunity to carry out 8 week of cutting-edge research at the forefront of nanofiber science, technology, and biomedical and energy applications at the Technical University of Liberec (TUL), Czech Republic, a leading academic center in nanofiber research and commercialization, and at the Lodz University of Technology (UT-Lodz), a regional leader in heterogeneous catalysis, Poland. Nanofibers (NF) form a large class of materials that can exhibit nano-enabled unique properties, which are unattainable at a larger scale. However, the growth potential of the NF materials market is still hindered by the limited ability to efficiently generate sizeable quantities of nanofibers with predictable and controllable complex, macroscopic architectures and desirable properties. Students will work at TUL with a new, high-rate, alternating-current electrospinning (ac-electrospinning) process that unveils several new physical phenomena which help to overcome major disadvantages of commonly used dc-electrospinning, such as ?whipping? instability and residual electric charge, while increasing the process productivity by 1 ? 2 orders of magnitude. Students will explore selected NF-based materials for advanced catalytic systems with improved activity, selectivity and stability in many reactions at UT-Lodz, along with other applications tested at TUL. During the pre-trip training, foreign site work, and post-trip activities, students will focus on advancing basic understanding of all aspects of emerging high-rate ac-electrospinning, in order to direct the assembly of NF into desired configurations and to stimulate the development of commercializable processes for nanofiber-based materials for heterogeneous catalysis, biomedical uses, and other potential applications. Overall, this program shall facilitate a broader long-term collaboration between the US and international research groups within the nanofiber research and manufacturing domain by bringing new collaborators and facilitating multiple international links between the researchers and students in related areas.