CAS: Harnessing the disordered state in block polymer materials for high-efficiency separations

第一部分：非技术性获取清洁水是一项紧迫的全球挑战，代表着我们整个社会面临的最重要的可持续性问题之一。海水淡化和废水修复/再利用是两个普遍的解决方案，它们将受益于基础材料研究的新进展。这些生产清洁饮用水的方法依赖于使用具有材料特性的膜，这些膜旨在优化分离性能。这项研究项目的重点是新的最先进的聚合物材料，旨在解决必须克服的关键限制，以进一步提高对膜分离中使用的材料的理解和效率。其目标是利用当代聚合物合成、彻底的材料表征和将新的大分子集成到实际分离膜中，来设计和推进嵌段聚合物材料在膜中的使用。这项研究承诺，通过最终开发新技术，使水净化和修复更经济、更广泛地获得，从而造福社会。膜将在可持续的水未来中发挥重要作用，在这项工作中取得的基本基础将有助于巩固建立新技术的基础。这项工作还将通过合作伙伴关系培养多样化的STEM人才，其中包括北极星STEM联盟、美国化学协会的项目种子和明尼苏达大学的所有小组的科学。第2部分：技术总结研究工作围绕嵌段聚合物中心策略的设计、开发和部署展开，这些策略依赖于新型化合物的自组装来利用其纳米结构的形态。共连续纳米结构对于推进下一代净水膜材料的设计是必不可少的，这项研究将促进有助于创造用于水基分离的共连续纳米结构聚合物材料的知识。该计划的基本特点是强调通过利用嵌段聚合物衍生材料的无序状态来制备具有共同连续纳米结构的材料。这项工作将在两个主要类别中推进知识。第一种是基于热力学方法，该方法需要使用预先形成的嵌段聚合物在热力学稳定的无序状态下捕获无序共连续的形态。第二种是基于动力学的方法，即在原位合成嵌段聚合物的过程中捕获无序状态，该体系有利于通过交联进行化学固定。基础和基础研究工作将促进这两个领域的知识，有助于对嵌段聚合物热力学的基本理解，并最终将允许建立有助于可持续获取清洁水的新技术。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

PART 1: NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARYReady access to clean water is a pressing global challenge that represents one of the most important sustainability issues we face as a society. Desalination of sea water and wastewater remediation/reuse are two prevalent solutions that will benefit from new advances in basic materials research. These approaches to generating clean water for consumption rely on the use of membranes endowed with material properties designed to optimize separations performance. This research project focuses on new state-of-the-art polymeric materials designed to address key limitations that must be overcome to further advance understanding and efficacy of materials used in membrane-based separations. The objectives are to design and advance the use of block polymer materials for membranes using a combination of contemporary polymer synthesis, thorough materials characterization, and integration of new macromolecules into practical separation membranes. The research promises to benefit society through the eventual development of new technologies that render water purification and remediation more economical and more widely accessible. Membranes will play important roles in a sustainable water future and the fundamental underpinnings achieved in this work will help solidify the foundations from which new technologies will be built. The work will also build diverse STEM talent though partnerships that include the NorthStar STEM Alliance, American Chemical Society’s Project SEED, and the University of Minnesota's Science for All group.PART 2: TECHNICAL SUMMARYThe research work centers around the design, development, and deployment of block polymer centric strategies that rely on the self-assembly of novel compounds to take advantage of their nanostructured morphologies. Co-continuous nanostructures are essential to advance the design of materials for next-generation water purification membranes, and this research will advance knowledge useful for the creation of co-continuous nanostructured polymer materials that are useful for aqueous-based separations. The essential feature of the program emphasizes the preparation of materials with co-continuous nanostructures by capitalizing on the disordered state of block polymer derived materials. The work will advance knowledge in two main categories. The first is based on a thermodynamic approach that entails trapping a disordered co-continuous morphology in the thermodynamically stable disordered state using pre-formed block polymers. The second is based on a kinetic approach that entails trapping the disordered state during the in-situ synthesis of block polymers in a system that is conducive to chemical fixation through crosslinking. The fundamental and basic research efforts will advance knowledge in these two arenas, will contribute to the basic understanding of block polymer thermodynamics, and will ultimately allow for new technologies to be built that contribute to sustainable access to clean water.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.