CAREER: Processing Intrinsically Conductive Polymers for Fibers via Side-by-Side Spinning

本征导电聚合物是一组有机聚合物，其分子骨架上的化学键允许导电。其吊坠基团还允许对特殊功能进行化学修饰，因此ICP已显示出在智能纺织品中使用的潜力，这种纺织品具有嵌入的电子电路，使其能够与佩戴者互动并对环境刺激做出反应。然而，ICP的刚性分子结构限制了其加工成纺织用柔性纤维的能力。这项学院早期职业发展(Career)补助金支持一种新的湿法纺丝技术的研究，该技术通过将ICP与传统聚合物并排共纺来制造柔性导电纤维。该项目将利用实验和理论方法来研究并排纤维的形成过程，并评估其对纤维性能的影响。研究成果将有助于控制功能性纤维的制造过程，并允许将纤维用于构建智能可穿戴设备的传感器，这可能会在医疗保健、军事和体育领域获得广泛应用。课程开发和外展活动将与研究相结合，让K-12和大学生参与进来，特别是那些来自STEM代表不足的群体的学生，以培养他们对纺织科学/工程的兴趣，并加强纺织行业的劳动力管道，以提高美国在该领域的竞争力。该项目的目标是对ICP并排湿法纺丝的工艺-结构-性能关系，特别是与可纺常规聚合物界面的相互作用，包括各种纺丝条件下复杂的流体相互作用动力学，有一个基本的了解。将设计不同类型的并列喷丝板，并研究喷丝板几何形状对纤维形成的影响。还将研究聚合物溶液性质和纺丝控制参数对并列纤维的机械、电学和传感性能的影响。为了简化和优化实验设计，将采用计算流体力学模型来模拟湿法纺丝过程中喷丝板内部和凝固浴中溶液的流体动力学。所获得的基本工艺-结构-性能关系可能适用于多种聚合物溶液制造技术，包括湿法纺丝、静电纺丝、直接墨水书写3D打印和微流体纺丝。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Intrinsically conductive polymers (ICP) are a group of organic polymers whose chemical bonds on the molecular backbone allow conduction of electricity. Their pendant groups also allow chemical modifications for special functions, so ICPs have shown potential for use in smart textiles, which have embedded electronic circuitry that enables them to interact with the wearer and respond to environmental stimuli. However, the rigid molecular structure of ICPs limits their processability into flexible fibers for textile fabrication. This Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) grant supports research into a new wet-spinning technology to manufacture flexible conductive fibers via side-by-side co-spinning of an ICP with a conventional polymer. The project will utilize both experimental and theoretical methods to investigate the side-by-side fiber formation process and evaluate its influence on fiber properties. The research outcomes should help to control the functional fiber manufacturing process, and allow the fibers to be used to construct sensors for smart wearables, which might find broad applications in healthcare, the military, and sports. Curriculum development and outreach activities will be integrated with research to involve K-12 and college students, especially those from groups underrepresented in STEM, to cultivate their interest in textile science/engineering, and to strengthen the workforce pipeline for the textile industry, in order to improve American competitiveness in the field. The goal of the project is to develop a fundamental understanding of the process-structure-property relationships of ICP side-by-side wet spinning, especially the interactions at the interface of the ICP with the spinnable conventional polymer, including the complex fluid interaction kinetics under various spinning conditions. Different types of side-by-side spinnerets will be designed, and the effects of the spinneret geometry on fiber formation will be studied. The influence of polymer solution properties and spinning control parameters on the side-by-side fibers' mechanical, electrical, and sensing properties will also be investigated. Computational fluid dynamics modeling will be used to simulate the hydrodynamics of the solutions inside the spinneret and in the coagulation bath during wet spinning, in order to simplify and optimize the experimental design. The fundamental process-structure-property relationships obtained could be applicable to multiple polymer solution manufacturing techniques, including wet spinning, electrospinning, direct ink writing 3D printing, and microfluid spinning.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.