Travel Grant for International Workshop on Characterization of Porous Materials

地质煤和页岩沉积物、细胞膜和混凝土只是多孔材料的几个例子。多孔材料的性质与非多孔固体的性质完全不同，因为孔既提供结构又提供功能。例如，流过多孔固体的化学混合物可能开始分离，因为混合物的一种组分可能与孔的表面更强烈地作用。这一原理是使用多孔材料作为质量分离剂的基础，以及几乎无限的材料作为吸附剂和膜的应用。今天，多孔材料的许多新应用正在出现，包括作为电能存储系统中的电极，电池，超级电容器和用于水脱盐的先进膜，这些膜对溶质具有分子水平的特异性。先进的表征技术将继续促进这些新的发展，因为这些技术增加了我们对分子与孔隙相互作用的理解，这是为化学和生物分离材料设计创造新范例的必要方面。该奖项支持研究生，博士后研究助理和非终身初级教师的参与，参加2018年5月6日至9日在美国佛罗里达德尔雷里奇举行的第八届多孔材料表征国际研讨会。在这个跨学科的研讨会上，来自学术界、政府和工业界的与会者将介绍与多孔材料表征相关的最新进展。多尺度表征和建模是会议的主题，如副标题所示：“从微米到毫米”。随着这一领域的复兴，将越来越复杂的表征技术应用于新问题，先进的表征技术使新材料的设计具有分子级的特异性和工艺级的优化。这些进展将有助于新材料的商业化，以帮助减少商品化学品生产过程中化学分离的寄生能量损失，这些过程占世界能源消耗的10%以上。这笔旅费资助将支持来自美国大学的最多15名与会者前往参加本次会议，并积极定位年轻的研究人员领导该领域的研究。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Geological coal and shale deposits, the cell membrane, and concrete are but a few examples of porous materials. The properties of porous materials are completely different from those of non-porous solids, as the pores give both structure and function. For example, chemical mixtures flowing through a porous solid may begin to separate, as one component of the mixture may act more strongly with the surface of the pore. This principle is the basis for the use of porous materials as mass separating agents, and the application of nearly unlimited materials as adsorbents and membranes. Today a number of new applications for porous materials are emerging, including as electrodes in the electrical energy storage systems, batteries, supercapacitors, and advanced membranes for water desalinization that have molecular-level specificity for solutes. Advanced characterization techniques will continue to catalyze these new developments, as these techniques increase our understanding of molecular interactions with pores, which is a necessary aspect of creating new paradigms for material design for chemical and biological separations.This award supports participation of graduate students, post-doctoral research associates, and untenured junior faculty, for travel to the 8th International Workshop on Characterization of Porous Materials in Delray Reach Florida, USA, on May 6-9, 2018. In this interdisciplinary workshop, the latest developments relevant to the characterization of porous materials will be presented by participants from academia, government, and industry. Multiscale characterization and modeling is the theme of the meeting, as indicated by the sub-title: "From Angstroms to Millimeters". As this area undergoes a Renaissance, applying ever more complex characterization techniques to new problems, the advanced characterization is enabling the design of new materials with molecular-level specificity combined with process-level optimization. These advances will help to commercialize new materials to help reduce the parasitic energy losses from chemical separations in the production of commodity chemicals, processes which account for over 10% of the worlds energy consumption. This travel grant will support up to 15 participations from US Universities to travel to this conference, and proactively position young investigators to lead research in the field.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.