RII Track-4:NSF: Programmed Material Transport Properties via Scalable Assembly Processes

对具有增强存储容量的电池技术存在着巨大的需求。解决这一需求需要电池制造策略的新进展，例如制造硅纳米颗粒电极的可扩展方法。其结果将对现代生活的各个方面产生广泛的、变革性的影响，例如增加电动汽车的行驶范围，为分布式电力系统提供更有效的存储，以及生产紧凑的医疗设备。为了实现这一愿景，该奖学金项目的目标是阐明一种先进的制造途径，能够在多个长度尺度上对材料微结构进行程序化控制。该奖学金的目标是：(1)加强PI的增材制造研究计划，在加州大学圣巴巴拉分校对无机功能材料的合成和多尺度表征进行强化培训；(2)长期持续提高夏威夷大学夏威夷分校在材料科学和先进制造方面的研究和教育能力；(3)在夏威夷大学和加州大学圣巴巴拉分校之间建立长期合作和培训机会，包括与美国国家科学基金会支持的材料研究实验室合作。这个研究基础设施改进轨道4 EPSCoR研究研究员（RII轨道4）项目将为夏威夷大学（UH）的助理教授和研究生提供奖学金。该项目通过寻求在结合自组装和场辅助聚合的分层方法中建立平衡时间尺度和长度尺度所需的科学基础，推进了具有可编程材料特性的复合材料的增材制造。提出的研究有助于以下方面的知识状态：(1)跨长度尺度的微观结构特性控制；(2)自上而下的材料传输特性设计；(3)由此产生的材料性能改进假设；(4)以可扩展的方式实现这种程序化控制的方法。由于许多潜在的尺度关系将转化为其他类型的外部场，该项目的成果将使具有编程输运特性的复合材料的组装成为可能。研究目标是：(1)建立利用声场分层组装电池材料的框架；(2)阐明由场辅助胶体组装制备的材料中纳米粒子网络的结构-性能关系。培训和协同目标是建立可持续的长期研究合作，为夏威夷大学开发新的增材制造本科课程，与加州大学圣巴巴拉分校开展新的合作，并与MRL建立相互学生交流计划。该项目的影响将通过联合出版物、合作提案、学生共同指导以及加州大学圣巴巴拉分校和夏威夷大学夏威夷分校的研究所之间的合作来维持。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。

A tremendous need exists for battery technology with enhanced storage capacity. Addressing this need requires new advances in battery fabrication strategies, such as scalable methods for creating silicon nanoparticle electrodes. The consequence would result in a broad, transformative impact across all aspects of modern life such as increasing the range of electric cars, providing more effective storage for distributed power systems, and yielding compact medical devices. Toward this vision, the aim of this fellowship project is to elucidate an advanced fabrication pathway capable of programmatic control of material microstructures across multiple length scales. The goals of this fellowship are to (1) strengthen the PI’s additive manufacturing research program with intensive training on the synthesis and multi-scale characterization of inorganic functional materials at the University of California, Santa Barbara; (2) bring long-term sustained improvements to the research and education capacity of the University of Hawaiʻi in materials science and advanced manufacturing; and (3) establish long-term collaborations and training opportunities between University of Hawaiʻi and University of California, Santa Barbara, including with the NSF-supported Materials Research Laboratory. This Research Infrastructure Improvement Track-4 EPSCoR Research Fellows (RII Track-4) project would provide a fellowship to an Assistant Professor and training for graduate student at the University of Hawaii (UH). This project advances the additive manufacture of composite materials with programmed material properties by seeking to establish the scientific foundation needed to balance time scales and length scales in hierarchical methods that combine self-assembly and field-assisted aggregation. The proposed research contributes to the state of knowledge regarding: (1) control of microstructure properties across length scales, (2) top-down design of material transport properties, (3) resultant hypothesized improvement in material performance, and (4) methodology to implement this programmatic control in a scalable manner. As many of the underlying scaling relationships will translate to other types of external fields, the outcome of this project will enable the assembly of composite materials with programmed transport properties. The research objectives are to (1) establish a framework for the hierarchical assembly of battery materials using acoustic fields and (2) elucidate the structure-property relationships of nanoparticle networks in materials fabricated by field-assisted colloidal assembly. The training and synergistic objectives are to establish a sustainable, long-term research collaboration, develop a new undergraduate course on additive manufacturing for University of Hawaiʻi, initiate new collaborations with University of California, Santa Barbara, and establish a mutual student exchange program with the MRL. The project impact will be sustained through joint publications, collaborative proposals, student co-advising, and collaborations between institutes at University of California, Santa Barbara and University of Hawaiʻi.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.