Collaborative Research: Electrospray Additive Manufacturing of Thin Low Resistance Polyamide-Based Ion Exchange Membranes for Water Treatment

该补助金支持研究开发有关电喷雾增材制造工艺的新知识，以促进科学进步，并通过促进材料制造来解决水净化挑战和清洁水短缺问题，从而促进国家繁荣和福祉。电喷雾增材制造是一种将有机单体沉积到表面上以形成薄聚合物膜或隔膜的工艺。该过程仔细控制了这些分子被放置在表面上的方式，并且可以快速适应于制造一系列不同的膜材料。从这个意义上说，电喷雾工艺相对于传统的薄膜涂覆或流延工艺具有显著的优点。这种方法的一个好处的例子是，制造商可以快速调整工艺，以制造定制的水处理膜，以应对水中出现的污染物或污染物。这项研究的结果使美国经济和社会受益，使制造非常有效的膜，提供更好的清洁水。这项研究涉及多个学科，包括先进制造，材料科学，化学工程和电化学。多学科方法的使用扩大了研究中代表性不足的群体的参与，并加强了对未来工程劳动力的工程教育和培训。电喷雾增材制造工艺克服了传统制造固有的基本限制，这些限制阻碍了具有可调性能的非常薄的聚酰胺离子交换膜的可靠和可控制备。这项研究解决了与使用电喷雾增材制造相关的知识空白，以使一系列共聚单体能够掺入最终膜中。该组合物范围允许制造先前通过常规制造（例如刮刀或狭缝压铸）不可及的材料。研究小组准备和表征膜，以确定电喷雾增材制造是否可用于克服与传统界面聚合制造相关的传质，溶解度和反应动力学限制。此外，该团队使用新工艺将固定离子基团引入聚酰胺膜中，通过控制固定离子基团浓度和交联密度来精确设计其性能。此外，该研究团队还证明了电喷雾增材制造工艺可用于在一系列不同的基材上制造膜，并且串联电阻模型可用于指导支撑基材的选择。该奖项反映了NSF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。

This grant supports research to develop new knowledge about an electrospray additive manufacturing process to promote the progress of science and to advance national prosperity and well-being by facilitating the manufacture of materials to address water purification challenges and clean water shortages. Electrospray additive manufacturing is a process where organic monomers are deposited onto a surface to form a thin polymer film or membrane. This process carefully controls the way by which these molecules are placed on the surface and can be quickly adapted to manufacture a range of different membrane materials. The electrospray process, in this sense, has significant advantages over conventional film coating or casting processes. An example of one benefit of this approach would be that manufacturers could quickly adapt the process to make tailored water treatment membranes in response to emerging contaminants or pollutants in water. Results from this research benefit the U.S. economy and society by enabling the manufacture of very efficient membranes that provide better access to clean water. This research involves several disciplines including advanced manufacturing, materials science, chemical engineering, and electrochemistry. The use of a multi-disciplinary approach broadens participation of underrepresented groups in research and enhances engineering education and training for the future engineering workforce.The electrospray additive manufacturing process overcomes fundamental limitations, inherent to conventional manufacturing, that prevent reliable and controlled preparation of very thin polyamide ion exchange membranes with tunable properties. This research addresses knowledge gaps related to the use of electrospray additive manufacturing to enable incorporation of a range of co-monomers into the final membrane. This range of compositions allow the manufacture of materials not previously accessible via conventional manufacturing such as doctor-blade or slot-die casting. The research team prepares and characterizes the membranes to determine if electrospray additive manufacturing can be used to overcome mass transfer, solubility, and reaction kinetics limitations associated with conventional interfacial polymerization manufacturing. Additionally, the team uses the new process to incorporate fixed ionic groups into polyamide membranes to precisely engineer their properties via control of fixed ionic group concentration and cross-link density. Furthermore, the research team demonstrates that the electrospray additive manufacturing process can be used to manufacture membranes on a range of different substrates and that a resistances-in-series model can be used to inform the selection of support substrates.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.