Digitalization of polymerization processes and development of smart polymer systems for transformations

化学工程是指以安全和可持续的方式生产和处理材料和化学品。聚合物是由数千个小分子通过共价键连接在一起的大分子。聚合物是三种主要材料之一，其消耗量超过所有其他类型的合成材料的总和。聚合物材料的性能在很大程度上取决于其链状微结构。与小分子不同，聚合物是过程的产物。即使使用相同的化学配方，工艺上的微小差异也可能导致完全不同的聚合物产品。 我的研究项目是聚合物反应工程领域，这是实验室化学与工业生产之间的桥梁。我的目标是学习聚合物反应工程的基础知识，并培训具有高要求技能的HQP。我建议在两个主要领域(四个项目)工作：(1)开发先进技术，使我们能够设计和生产具有靶向链状微结构的聚合物；(2)开发智能材料，使我们能够将一种事物(刺激)转化为另一种(反应)。这项工作具有理论和实验性质，建立在我在聚合物反应工程方面的实力以及在聚合物化学和材料科学方面的丰富经验的基础上。 第一个领域是聚合过程的数字化。聚合物具有丰富的微观结构，如相对分子质量、组成、序列、规整性、拓扑学、官能化等，精密生产是其成功的关键。数字化代表了这一趋势。一个项目是对具有复杂链结构的聚合物的生产进行建模和模拟。结合实验验证，对工业生产条件下链条的形成提供了机理上的理解。另一个项目是通过机器和过程学习来研究商业聚合物制造。利用人工智能和大数据的到来，它创新了商业制造流程，以开发新产品和升级现有产品。 第二个领域是发展智能材料。人类从把一件事变成另一件事的机器中受益匪浅。热到运动，运动到电，电到光等。分子机器，如分子致动器和马达，近几十年来引起了人们的极大关注。我的动机是探索和开创中等规模的智能材料的设计和制造，以实现转型。一个项目是合成机械强度根据温度在硬和软之间切换的水凝胶。另一个项目是开发具有通过机械作用切换导体和绝缘体之间的导电性的复合材料。这些发明的应用领域包括植入式传感器和智能开关。

Chemical engineering is about the production and processing of materials and chemicals in safe and sustainable ways. Polymers are macromolecules that have thousands of small molecules joined together in chains by covalent bonds. Polymers represent one of the three major types of materials, with their consumption more than all other types of synthetic materials combined. Polymer material properties are determined to a large extent by their chain microstructures. Different from small molecules, polymers are the products of processes. Even with same chemical recipe, a slight difference in processes could result in totally different polymer products. My research program is in the areas of polymer reaction engineering, which bridges the lab chemistry to industrial production. My objective is to study the fundamentals of polymer reaction engineering and to train HQPs with highly demanded skills. I propose to work on two major areas (four projects): (1) to develop advanced technologies that allow us to design and produce polymers having targeted chain microstructures, and (2) to develop smart materials that allow us to convert one thing (stimulus) to another (response). The work is of both theoretical and experimental in nature, built on my strength in polymer reaction engineering combined with extensive experience in polymer chemistry and materials science. The first area is to digitize polymerization processes. Polymers are rich in microstructure, such as molecular weight, composition, sequence, tacticity, topology, functionality, etc. Precision production is the key to success. Digitalization represents the trend. One project is to model and simulate production of polymers having sophisticated chain structures. Combined with experimental verification, it provides mechanistic understanding of the chain formation under industrial production conditions. Another project is to study commercial polymer manufacturing through machine and process learning. Taking advantage of the advents of AI and Big Data, it innovates commercial manufacturing processes for developing new products and for upgrading existing products. The second area is to develop smart materials. Humankind has greatly benefited from machines that transform one thing to another, eg. heat to motion, motion to electricity, electricity to light, etc. Molecular machines, such as molecular actuators and motors, have attracted great attention in recent decades. I am motivated to explore and pioneer the design and fabrication of smart materials at intermediate scales for the transformations. One project is to synthesize hydrogels that have mechanical strength between hard and soft switched by temperature. Another project is to develop composites with electrical conductivity between conductor and insulator switched by mechanical actions. These inventions have applications as implantable sensors and smart switches.