RII Track-4: Advanced Morphology Characterization of Nanostructured Cyclic and Linear Polymers and their Blends

RII Track-4：纳米结构环状和线性聚合物及其共混物的高级形态表征

• 批准号: 1833047
• 负责人: Julie Albert
• 金额: $ 17.05万
• 依托单位: Tulane University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2018-10-01 至 2022-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1833047&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RII; Track; Advanced; Morphology; Characterization

Non-Technical DescriptionOver the past thirty years, tremendous advancements have occurred in the microelectronics and healthcare industries, resulting in phones that are more powerful than the earliest computers and medical treatments that are more effective, less invasive, and capable of treating formerly untreatable ailments. This rapid technological growth was enabled by the creation of new materials and efforts to fully understand their chemical and physical properties. In order to sustain this level of growth, the search for new materials must continue. This project supports collaboration between university researchers and scientists from government laboratories in this search. In one area, fundamental research into the properties of block copolymers, a type of nanostructured rubbery plastic material, promises a new route to lithographic patterning on the nano-scale to facilitate the move from micro-electronics to nano-electronics that are faster and capable of greater data storage. In a second area, studies on biocompatible, biodegradable, semi-crystalline polymers will reduce the need for undesirable small molecule additives to control crystallization, thereby enhancing biocompatibility and safety for use in medical applications. The project promotes scientific advancement by supporting experiments that can be conducted only in state-of-the-art national laboratories. By nurturing close interactions between academia and government, the project trains students to connect their educational experiences to the goals of national health, prosperity, welfare, and the production of civically-mindful scientists and engineers. Technical DescriptionThe cyclic molecular architecture endows polymer materials with unique and useful physical properties compared to linear counterparts such as smaller nanostructure domain sizes in block copolymers and greater thin film stability. These polymers show great promise as additives for endowing linear polymer systems with desirable properties. However, the molecular level integration of linear and cyclic materials in topological blends is not well-understood. Advanced characterization experiments made possible through this fellowship produce the fundamental knowledge necessary to understand how topological blends (linear plus cyclic polymers) can be used to (1) enhance block copolymer nanostructure properties for nanolithgraphy and (2) regulate crystallization kinetics and morphology in semi-crystalline polymer films. These goals are achieved by revealing molecular mechanisms in these systems using resonant soft X-ray reflectivity (RSoXR) for the characterization of molecular distributions in block copolymer systems and broadband coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) for mapping the localization components in semi-crystalline polymer blend films. Host site visits, in which the PI and students work closely with experts at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, are important for understanding organization of materials at the molecular level and for sustaining long-term academic-government collaboration.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.

在过去的三十年里，微电子和医疗保健行业取得了巨大的进步，导致手机比最早的计算机更强大，医疗治疗更有效，侵入性更小，能够治疗以前无法治疗的疾病。这种快速的技术增长是通过创造新材料和努力充分了解其化学和物理特性而实现的。为了维持这种增长水平，必须继续寻找新材料。该项目支持大学研究人员和政府实验室的科学家在这项研究中的合作。 在一个领域，对嵌段共聚物（一种纳米结构橡胶塑料材料）性质的基础研究有望开辟一条新的途径，在纳米尺度上进行平版印刷图案化，以促进从微电子技术向更快、更大数据存储能力的纳米电子技术的转变。 在第二个领域中，对生物相容性、生物可降解的半结晶聚合物的研究将减少对控制结晶的不期望的小分子添加剂的需要，从而增强用于医疗应用的生物相容性和安全性。该项目通过支持只能在最先进的国家实验室进行的实验来促进科学进步。 通过培养学术界和政府之间的密切互动，该项目培养学生将他们的教育经验与国家健康，繁荣，福利以及具有公民意识的科学家和工程师的生产目标联系起来。技术描述与线性对应物相比，环状分子结构赋予聚合物材料独特且有用的物理性质，例如嵌段共聚物中更小的纳米结构域尺寸和更大的薄膜稳定性。这些聚合物显示出作为赋予线性聚合物体系所需性能的添加剂的巨大前景。 然而，线性和环状材料在拓扑共混物中的分子水平整合还没有得到很好的理解。 先进的表征实验，通过该奖学金可能产生必要的基础知识，以了解拓扑共混物（线性加环状聚合物）如何可以用于（1）提高嵌段共聚物纳米结构的纳米光刻性能和（2）调节结晶动力学和半结晶聚合物薄膜的形态。 这些目标是通过揭示这些系统中的分子机制，使用共振软X射线反射率（RSoXR）的分子分布在嵌段共聚物系统和宽带相干反斯托克斯拉曼散射（汽车）映射的本地化组件在半结晶聚合物共混物膜的表征。 主办现场访问，其中PI和学生与国家标准与技术研究所的专家密切合作，对于了解分子水平上的材料组织和维持长期的学术-政府合作非常重要。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得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来支持。