Nanomanufacturing of Multicomponent Inorganic Functional Coatings and Fibers using Sol-Gel Processing

纳米制造为大规模制造具有新形式和新功能的材料提供了一条新的途径。这满足了人们对可在更大处理规模上实现的技术日益增长的兴趣和需求。这些纳米制造的结构材料是一系列应用所需的，例如具有自清洁和抗生物污垢的超疏水表面，以及由多层膜制成的双折射反射表面。虽然这些领域的技术进步仍在继续，但纳米制造和工业的一个主要需求是“过程强化”，即减少加工和能量步骤，以获得所需的结构分辨率、制造速度、可伸缩性和经济可行性的最终产品。该奖项将有助于未来利用纳米技术、胶体科学和溶胶-凝胶工艺高通量制造多组分无机功能涂层和纳米纤维的途径。这项研究涉及与小尺寸制造、建模、纳米尺度表征、流体动力学、表面化学和工艺开发相关的几个工程和科学学科。这些研究领域和学科将被纳入课程课程，并为本科生和少数民族学生提供研究机会。这是为了将我国STEM专业的学生培养成工程和科学专业所必需的。无机衍生溶胶的纳米制造是一个复杂的过程，它为许多新结构和材料的实现提供了障碍。为了克服这一障碍，需要研究和理解溶胶到凝胶的加工，这是本奖项计划实现的目标。今天，许多从金属醇盐中提取的胶体溶胶缺乏稳定性，这会导致胶凝和难以处理的物质，从而降低了它们的加工能力。这项工作的研究目标将是创造所需的基础知识，以弥合科学概念和纳米制造工艺发展之间的差距。这将集中于设计和研究所需的创新方法，以利用活性胶体溶胶的加工潜力，以使用二氧化钛和二氧化硅溶胶“制造”功能涂层和纤维。这项拟议工作的智力意义在于对极小尺寸的组成和物理性质的过程控制，以及促进基础纳米制造知识的发展，以创造具有可控组成和微观结构的新形状因数。这一水平的成分和微观组织控制将导致新的组织-性能-加工关系。新的科学和工程概念将基于先进的纳米制造技术，通过压电印刷和静电纺丝制造功能和多组分的无机纳米结构。

Nanomanufacturing provides a novel route to large-scale creation of materials with new form and function. This addresses a growing interest and demand for technologies that are realizable at larger processing scales. These nanomanufactured structural materials are needed for a range of applications such as superhydrophobic surfaces that are self-cleaning and resistant to biofouling, and birefringent reflective surfaces made with multilayered films. While technical progress in such areas is continuing, a major nanofabrication and industrial need is "process intensification," which is fewer processing and energy steps to a final product with desired structural resolution, manufacturing speed, scalability, and economic viability. This award will contribute to future pathways to high-throughput nanomanufacturing of multicomponent inorganic functional coatings and nanofibers derived by using nanotechnology, colloid science, and sol-gel processing. This research involves several engineering and science disciplines related to manufacturing at small dimensions, modeling, nanoscale characterization, fluid dynamics, surface chemistry, and process development. These research areas and disciplines will be integrated into course curriculum, and research opportunities for undergraduate and minority students. This is needed in order to increase STEM majors for our nation's workforce pipeline into engineering and science.The nanomanufacturing of inorganic derived sols is a complex process that provides a barrier to the realization of many novel structures and materials. In order to overcome this barrier, sol to gel processing needs to be studied and understood, which this award plans to accomplish. Today, many colloidal sols derived from metal alkoxides lack stability, which leads to gelation and intractable materials that eliminates their ability to be processed. The research objectives of this work will be the creation of fundamental knowledge required to bridge the gap between scientific concepts and development of nanomanufacturing processes. This will center upon the design and investigation of innovative approaches needed to harness the processing potential of reactive colloidal sols in order to "manufacture" functional coatings and fibers using titania and silica sols. The intellectual significance of this proposed work lies in process control of composition and physical properties at extremely small dimensions, and advancing fundamental nanomanufacturing knowledge in order to create novel form-factors with controlled composition and microstructure. This level of composition and microstructural control will lead to new structure-property-processing relationships. New science and engineering concepts will be developed based on the advanced nanomanufacturing of functional and multicomponent inorganic nanostructures via piezoelectric printing and electrospinning.