Fundamentals and development of advanced polymer reaction engineering for precision production of smart functional polymer materials

智能功能高分子材料精密生产的先进聚合物反应工程基础与发展

• 批准号: RGPIN-2015-05841
• 负责人: Zhu, Shiping
• 金额: $ 6.27万
• 依托单位: McMaster University
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2016-01-01 至 2017-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=613782
• 关键词: Fundamentals; development; advanced; polymer; reaction

We consume polymers more than all other types of synthetic materials combined. Manufacturing of polymers and their products represents an important industrial sector in Canada and it annually generates >$30 billions of total revenues (Industry Canada). Polymers are chain molecules and their materials properties are determined by chain microstructure, which include molecular weight, composition, sequence, tacticity, topology, functionality, etc. The abundance in the chain microstructure provides unlimited possibilities in developing new polymers and in innovating existing polymers. With establishment of structure-morphology-property relationships, we are approaching a new age of digital synthesis and precision production of polymers. The key lies in the design and precise control of chain microstructure for targeted material properties, which are desired in applications. My research program is in the area of polymer reaction engineering, which bridges the lab-scale polymer chemistry and industrial polymer production. My research objective is to study fundamentals of polymer reaction engineering and to develop advanced technologies that allow us to design and produce polymers having targeted chain microstructure and properties. I propose to work on three areas, which build on my strength in reaction engineering combined with extensive experience in polymer chemistry and material science. The work involves both theoretical development and experimentation, best for training HQPs with both skills highly demanded by industries. Area 1 is to study high-conversion controlled radical polymerization (CRP). CRP represents a major advance in polymer chemistry in the recent decades. It combines the good control of living ionic polymerization and the moderate reaction conditions of radical polymerization. However, there are several major challenges facing its commercial exploitations, caused by diffusion-controlled reactions. My objective is to investigate their mechanisms and to develop strategies to tackle the challenges. Area 2 is to study surface modification by CRP grafting. Chemical modification of bulk materials is often required to assure biocompatibility and surface-initiated CRP provides a powerful method. Despite of thousands of investigations reported, fundamental questions, such as, how thick can we grow polymer layer from surface, still remain. My objective is to provide answer to such questions that would greatly help further development of the whole area. Area 3 is to develop smart materials from CRP. Polymers having unprecedented microstructure and functionality will be designed and precisely prepared using model-based CRP technologies and be evaluated as extractors in separation of natural products. My objective is to reduce the use of large amount volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the unit operation.

我们消耗的聚合物比所有其他类型的合成材料加起来还要多。聚合物及其产品的制造是加拿大一个重要的工业部门，每年产生100亿美元的总收入（加拿大工业）。聚合物是链式分子，其材料性能是由链式微观结构决定的，包括分子量、组成、序列、弹性、拓扑结构、功能等。丰富的链状结构为开发新聚合物和创新现有聚合物提供了无限的可能性。随着结构-形态-性质关系的建立，我们正在进入聚合物数字化合成和精密生产的新时代。关键在于设计和精确控制链微观结构，以达到应用中所期望的目标材料性能。