Analysis and Optimization of Polymer Networks for Emerging Applications

在化学系大分子、超分子和纳米化学（MSN）项目的支持下，麻省理工学院的Jeremiah A. Johnson教授和Bradley D. Olsen教授将努力开发新的方法来理解聚合物网络的基本结构和性质，聚合物网络是日常生活中使用的许多材料的主要成分，从轮胎到软性隐形眼镜再到五分钟环氧胶粘剂。由于聚合物网络令人难以置信的复杂性，尽管经过了100多年的学术和工业研究，其结构的几个基本特征仍然是一个谜。没有结构知识，就不能完全理解功能。该项目旨在通过创造新的实验方法来将聚合物分解成可以表征并用于重建原始材料结构的碎片，从而填补工业上重要的高性能聚合物“热固性聚合物”背景下的这些知识空白。同时，计算聚合物结构的新方法将被开发出来，并根据实验结果进行测试。研究结果将指导下一代聚合物材料的设计，这些材料具有广泛的用途，包括可持续材料、去除废水中有毒物质的膜以及用于细胞和组织工程的基质。此外，该项目将推动麻省理工学院的教育和推广工作，旨在提高人们对聚合物在日常生活中的重要性的认识，以及社会在聚合物废物管理方面面临的关键挑战。聚合物网络是由化学和/或物理交联的大分子组成的材料。聚合物网络的组成和拓扑结构极其多样和复杂，推动了塑料、复合材料、橡胶和水凝胶等众多应用。由于其相对无序的结构，传统上很难从分子水平定量设计聚合物网络。在这个项目中，来自麻省理工学院化学系和化学工程系的jeremiah a . Johnson教授和Bradley D. Olsen教授将分别致力于发明新的化学策略、理论和模拟，以更深入地了解高性能热固性材料的拓扑结构。首先，将创建能够降解和测量工业热固性材料（包括聚双环戊二烯和聚氨酯）初级回路的方法。这些方法将应用于测量和控制共价自适应网络的拓扑结构，实现热固性材料的“拓扑回收”。最后，将开发新的方法来量化聚合物网络中的高阶环结构。如果成功，这些研究有可能显著增加设计、理解和构建聚合物网络的可用工具。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，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。

With the support of the Macromolecular, Supramolecular, and Nanochemistry (MSN) Program in the Division of Chemistry, Professor Jeremiah A. Johnson and Professor Bradley D. Olsen of MIT will endeavor to develop new ways to understand the fundamental structure and properties of polymer networks, which are the major components of many materials used in everyday life from tires to soft contact lenses to five-minute epoxy adhesives. Due to the incredible complexity of polymer networks, several fundamental features of their structure remain a mystery despite over 100 years of academic and industrial investigation. Without knowledge of structure, one cannot fully understand function. This project seeks to fill these knowledge gaps in the context of industrially important, high-performance polymers called “thermosets” through the creation of new experimental ways to break down polymers into pieces that can be characterized and used to reconstruct the original material’s structure. Simultaneously, new ways to compute the structures of polymers will be developed and tested against experimental findings. The results will guide the design of next-generation polymer materials with useful properties for a wide range of applications including sustainable materials, membranes for removal of toxic agents from wastewater, and matrices for cellular and tissue engineering. Additionally, this project will drive education and outreach efforts at MIT designed to increase awareness of the importance of polymers in everyday life as well as the critical challenges that society faces in polymer waste management. Polymer networks are materials composed of chemically and/or physically crosslinked macromolecules. The compositions and topologies of polymer networks are extremely diverse and complex, driving numerous applications as plastics, composites, rubbers, and hydrogels. Due to their relatively disordered structures, polymer networks have traditionally been difficult to quantitatively design from the molecular level. In this project, ProfessorsJeremiah A. Johnson and Bradley D. Olsen of the Departments of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at MIT, respectively, will work to invent new chemical strategies, theories, and simulations to provide a deeper understanding of the topology of high-performance thermoset materials. First, methods to enable the degradation and measurement of primary loops in industrial thermosets including polydicyclopentadiene and polyurethanes will be created. These methods will be applied to measure and control the topology of covalent adaptable networks, enabling “topological recycling” of thermoset-like materials. Finally, new methods for quantification of high-order loop structures in polymer networks will be developed. If successful, these studies have the potential to significantly add to the tools available to design, understand and construct polymer networks.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.