PFI-TT: Creating highly efficient waterborne self-sanitizing coatings that incorporate novel additives

这项创新技术转化伙伴关系（PFI-TT）项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是显著降低抗菌和抗病毒涂层的成本。该技术利用添加剂创建分层涂层结构，其中抗菌和抗病毒试剂集中在涂层的顶部表面。同样的概念可以扩展到解决水性乳液涂料的许多长期挑战，包括耐水性，附着力，表面硬度和成膜性。这里提出的技术可以进一步发展成为一个平台，以控制广泛应用的表面性能，包括粘合剂和生物医学。此外，该项目将提供一个机会，连接学生，包括女学生和代表性不足的群体，拓宽他们的研究视野。拟议的项目管理技能培训教育计划旨在使学生掌握重要的专业技能，这些技能对他们的工作准备和未来的成功至关重要。提出的项目研究形成一种新的Janus颗粒添加剂的化学，在单个颗粒的两侧具有不同的官能团。这些粒子自动扩散到涂层表面，形成分层结构。通过在颗粒表面加入抗菌官能团，可以发明一种创建优化自消毒表面的新方法。本提案将探索创造这种粒子的设计思想，并研究实现分层涂层结构的条件。该研究旨在揭示颗粒表面化学如何与涂层结构形成和最终涂层性能相关。新系统为研究颗粒特性和自消毒性能的潜在协同效应提供了机会。该建议为新型颗粒添加剂的商业化奠定了基础。它提供了一种替代方案，通过定向颗粒添加剂改善表面性能，而无需完全重新设计原始涂层化学。研究结果可指导今后Janus颗粒和功能涂层材料的研究方向。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，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。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Partnerships for Innovation - Technology Translation (PFI-TT) project is to significantly reduce the cost of antibacterial and anti-viral coatings. The technology utilizes a additive to create a layered coating structure, where antibacterial and antiviral reagents are concentrated at the top coating surface. The same concept can be extended to address many long-standing challenges in waterborne emulsion coatings, including water resistance, adhesion, surface hardness, and film formation. The technology proposed here can be further developed into a platform to control surface properties for broad applications including adhesives and biomedicine. In addition, the project will provide an opportunity to connect students, including female students and underrepresented groups and broaden their research horizons. The proposed education plan on project management skill training seeks to equip students with important professional skills that are critical to their job readiness and future success. The proposed project investigates the chemistry of forming a novel Janus particle additive, with different functional groups on the two sides of a single particle. These particles diffuse automatically to the coating surface and create a layered structure. By incorporating the antimicrobial functional groups on the particle surface, a new approach of creating optimized self-sanitizing surfaces may be invented. This proposal will explore design ideas for creating such particles and study the conditions to achieve a layered coating structure. The study seeks to reveal how particle surface chemistry is correlated with the coating structure formation and final coating performance. The new system offers an opportunity to study the potential synergistic effect of particle properties and self-sanitizing performance. This proposal may set the foundation for the commercialization of the new particle additives. It provides an alternative that improves surface properties by directing particle additives, without completely redesigning the original coating chemistry. The results ,may help guide future research directions of Janus particles and functional coating materials.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.