CCI Phase 1: NSF Center for the Mechanical Control of Chemistry

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The NSF Center for the Mechanical Control of Chemistry (CMCC) is supported by the Centers for Chemical Innovation (CCI) Program of the Division of Chemistry. This Phase I Center is led by James Batteas of Texas A&M University. Other team members include Jonathan Felts, also from Texas A&M University, Adam Braunschweig of the City University New York-Advanced Science Research Center, Robert Carpick and Andrew Rappe of the University of Pennsylvania, Danna Freedman of Northwestern University, and Ashlie Martini of the University of California - Merced. The effects of light, electric potential, and heat on chemical reactions are reasonably well studied. Chemists use these to control chemical reactivity and to direct reactions toward desired products. Though less well understood, and less studied, mechanical force can also influence chemical reactions, as compression and shear forces can be used to drive chemistry. To harness this, the CMCC will develop quantitative models for mechanochemical reactions that can be applied to industrial scale processes, by combining new reactors, measurement tools, and theories, to enable the understanding of mechanochemical effects on chemical bond making and breaking, across multiple length scales (atomic, meso, macro). The broader impacts of this work include the prospect of a new perspective on chemical reactivity, with the potential to enable new technologies such as solvent-free chemical processing and new non-traditional mechanically-promoted synthetic pathways. Undergraduate researchers will join graduate students in the center activities. High school students will participate in a mechanochemistry-themed STEM summer camp. Broad engagement of students in STEM will include the recruitment of military veterans, women, and students from traditionally underrepresented groups. Student lab exchanges and entrepreneurship activities enhance the student experience, while contributing to the innovation potential of the center. Technology transfer strategies and training in public policy are in place to ensure the promotion of the innovative science developed by CMCC members. Science history exhibits and a youth adventure camp on mechanochemistry round out the informal science communications plans.The CMCC sets out to establish a broad and fundamental understanding of how mechanical forces can be used to alter chemical reaction rates and pathways at surfaces and interfaces. To enable this, the center team is developing an Integrated Toolset Program (ITP) that blends approaches for the controlled application of force on reactants with in situ spectroscopies to study mechanically enhanced reactions from the atomic scale to the macroscale. The ITP includes: atomic force microscopies with integrated electron microscopy, Raman and IR (infrared) spectroscopies, along with thermal and multi-tip probes; high-pressure diamond anvils; and novel ball mill reactors with integrated force control and spectroscopy/diffraction capabilities. Complemented by state-of-the-art electronic, atomic, kinetic, and data-driven modeling, the ITP will offer unprecedented, atomically-resolved views of interfacial mechanochemical reactions across a range of environments (vacuum, gas, liquid). These tools are being applied to a set of well-defined, mechanochemically active organic and inorganic systems, namely pericyclic reactions and perovskite syntheses. The in situ experiments inform computational studies to predict how reaction pathways depend on force, which then feed back into the design of reaction conditions needed to obtain desired products. Building from this, in concert with industry partners, the work aims to provide a new understanding of force-dependent selectivity and reactivity to ultimately enable the design of new mechanochemical reactors with integrated force control for at-scale syntheses. This translational knowledge of atomic-scale mechanochemistry can have substantial technological and economic benefits globally, including leading to the development of reliable low-temperature, simplified, energy-efficient, safer, and more selective syntheses. The CMCC also provides convergent training for a diverse set of students in chemistry, physics, mechanical and materials science and engineering, with exposure to innovation and public policy. Finally, the research outcomes will be disseminated to a broad audience, with the CMCC functioning as a mechanochemistry hub, with a strong focus on enhancing research and promoting diversity while engagind in outreach to K-12, undergraduate, graduate, and veteran students.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.