MPS-Ascend: Improved polymer upcycling strategies via stochastic thermodynamics

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This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). Dr. Jorge Rosa Raices is awarded an NSF Mathematical and Physical Sciences Ascending Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (NSF MPS-Ascend) to conduct a program of research and activities related to broaden participation by groups underrepresented in STEM. This fellowship to Dr. Rosa Raices supports his research entitled “MPS-Ascend: Improved polymer upcycling strategies via stochastic thermodynamics”, under the mentorship of sponsoring senior scientists. The host institution for the fellowship is University of California, Berkeley, and the sponsoring scientist is Dr. David Limmer. Throughout the world, sustainable technological advance is threatened by unmitigated plastic waste accumulation. To reduce our future output of plastic waste, leading researchers are synthesizing new polymer materials that can be upcycled, or cheaply broken down into valuable molecular feedstock for products of equal or greater value. From these efforts surge a promising class of upcyclable plastics that can chemically self-disassemble on demand through programmable activation of embedded enzymatic catalysts capable of breaking down the host material. This work employs a theory of thermodynamics for complicated materials far from the steady state of equilibrium, combined with efficient molecular computer simulation algorithms. These will be used to study self-disassembling plastics at the molecular level and to infer principles governing their cost-effective synthesis and upcycling through self-disassembly. In this way, the work seeks to advance progress toward a circular plastic economy by providing materials design guidelines that could expedite the development and worldwide integration of sustainable plastic technologies.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.