Nanomanufacturing of Multicomponent Inorganic Functional Coatings and Fibers using Sol-Gel Processing

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Nanomanufacturing provides a novel route to large-scale creation of materials with new form and function. This addresses a growing interest and demand for technologies that are realizable at larger processing scales. These nanomanufactured structural materials are needed for a range of applications such as superhydrophobic surfaces that are self-cleaning and resistant to biofouling, and birefringent reflective surfaces made with multilayered films. While technical progress in such areas is continuing, a major nanofabrication and industrial need is "process intensification," which is fewer processing and energy steps to a final product with desired structural resolution, manufacturing speed, scalability, and economic viability. This award will contribute to future pathways to high-throughput nanomanufacturing of multicomponent inorganic functional coatings and nanofibers derived by using nanotechnology, colloid science, and sol-gel processing. This research involves several engineering and science disciplines related to manufacturing at small dimensions, modeling, nanoscale characterization, fluid dynamics, surface chemistry, and process development. These research areas and disciplines will be integrated into course curriculum, and research opportunities for undergraduate and minority students. This is needed in order to increase STEM majors for our nation's workforce pipeline into engineering and science.The nanomanufacturing of inorganic derived sols is a complex process that provides a barrier to the realization of many novel structures and materials. In order to overcome this barrier, sol to gel processing needs to be studied and understood, which this award plans to accomplish. Today, many colloidal sols derived from metal alkoxides lack stability, which leads to gelation and intractable materials that eliminates their ability to be processed. The research objectives of this work will be the creation of fundamental knowledge required to bridge the gap between scientific concepts and development of nanomanufacturing processes. This will center upon the design and investigation of innovative approaches needed to harness the processing potential of reactive colloidal sols in order to "manufacture" functional coatings and fibers using titania and silica sols. The intellectual significance of this proposed work lies in process control of composition and physical properties at extremely small dimensions, and advancing fundamental nanomanufacturing knowledge in order to create novel form-factors with controlled composition and microstructure. This level of composition and microstructural control will lead to new structure-property-processing relationships. New science and engineering concepts will be developed based on the advanced nanomanufacturing of functional and multicomponent inorganic nanostructures via piezoelectric printing and electrospinning.