| NSF Org: |
DMR Division Of Materials Research |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | March 15, 2016 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | May 23, 2019 |
| Award Number: | 1610483 |
| Award Instrument: | Continuing Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Andrew Lovinger
alovinge@nsf.gov (703)292-4933 DMR Division Of Materials Research MPS Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences |
| Start Date: | June 1, 2016 |
| End Date: | September 30, 2022 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $405,000.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $698,500.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
FY 2017 = $270,000.00 FY 2019 = $293,500.00 |
| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
302 BUCHTEL COMMON AKRON OH US 44325-0001 (330)972-2760 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
170 University Circle Akron OH US 44325-0044 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | POLYMERS |
| Primary Program Source: |
01001718DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT 01001920DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT |
| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.049 |
ABSTRACT
NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY:
The interaction of water with polymer surfaces has significant implications in diverse technological areas. The impacts are far-reaching: from energy-harvesting devices, biomedical implants, corrosion-resistant coatings, and extending to any innovation with surfaces that is influenced by wettability in aqueous environments. The goal of this project is to understand how polymer surfaces restructure themselves on a molecular level after coming in contact with water. Polymers are widely used as adhesives and lubricants and the knowledge of how these materials interact with water is of great importance. This understanding will be obtained using advanced specialized surface and spectroscopic techniques, some developed in the PI's laboratory. The fundamental understanding developed by the planned research will help in designing better materials that either adapt or resist changes upon contact with water. The PI will be training two graduate students in the area of surface science, which is a key requirement of industries developing or manufacturing adhesives or coatings. In addition to these directly integrated educational aspects, the PI will also be involved in broader outreach activities to middle and high school students as well as to community colleges.
TECHNICAL SUMMARY:
It is well accepted that when we bring water in contact with surfaces, polar groups can migrate or reorient at the contact interface and reduce the interfacial energy. This surface rearrangement results in contact angle hysteresis. For example, when two solid surfaces come in contact, this interfacial rearrangement leads to adhesion hysteresis and higher friction. But the direct observations of these structural rearrangements are elusive. Surface-sensitive sum frequency generation spectroscopy (SFG) has been used to study surface rearrangements upon contact with water, changes during solid-solid contact, and during sliding contact. However, the kinetics of the surface rearrangements in contact with water are not well understood, particularly how dynamical effects are related to the Tg of the polymer or even surface Tg. The PI will conduct SFG experiments to study the kinetics of surface rearrangements for poly(alkyl methacrylates) and poly(alpha-hydroxymethyl substituted acrylate) as a function of time and temperature after bringing the surfaces in contact with water, humidity, and steam. This will allow the PI to relate these surface changes with contact-angle hysteresis and adhesion hysteresis underwater, and to study the differences between wet and dry friction coefficients. Recently, the PI and his collaborators have shown that molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are able to reproduce the SFG spectra of the poly(methyl methacrylate) surface. Here, the PI will complement the SFG experiments with MD simulations for polymer-water interfaces. The proposed research will be a concerted effort at the molecular-level to understand the interaction of water with polymer surfaces.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
The interaction of water at polymer surfaces has significant implications in diverse technological areas such as energy harvesting devices, biomedical implants, corrosion resistant coatings, including, but not limited to, any innovation with surfaces that is influenced by wettability in aqueous environments. The goal of this project was to understand how polymer surfaces restructure after encountering water and how it influences friction and adhesion. Polymers are widely used as adhesives and lubricants and the knowledge of how these materials interact with water is of great importance. The fundamental understanding developed by the proposed work helped toward designing better materials that either adapt or resist changes upon contact with water.
This research employed surface-sensitive sum-frequency generation spectroscopy (SFG) to study rearrangement upon contact with water and the consequences of water on adhesion and friction. In addition to SFG, the project developed the use of the Frustrated Total Internal Reflection technique to study the consequences of surface wettability on the drainage of water during underwater adhesion. These drainage rates were shown to be a function of surface wettability. This research was also extended to study the difference in the interfacial structure upon freezing and how this was influenced by the wettability. This project resulted in 35 peer-reviewed publications, mentoring twelve Ph.D. students, 17 undergraduate students, and 9 high-school students.
In addition to educational outreach activities, the PI has served as a Director of District 5 Science Day for over 26 years. This role involves the organization of District 5 Science Day and recruiting judges and volunteers. The District 5 fair receives around 250-300 projects and involves around 100-150 judges. The students who receive superior ratings are selected to advance to the State Fair. A total of 30-40 sponsored projects are selected for awards by external sponsors. The PI also serves as a co-Director of a Biomimicry Research and Innovation Center (BRIC). This BRIC center is involved in outreach activities, industrial internships for graduate students, and organizing workshops. The BRIC center hired four junior faculty members and two of these hires have received NSF Career Awards.
This work has also had an important impact on other disciplines. The collaboration with the Getty Foundation and the University of New York has resulted in reformulated adhesives used for art restoration. These materials were tested in leading museums in the US and in Europe. The spectroscopic technique developed here also led to identifying the surface migration of anti-degradants added in rubber formulation. The chemical 6-PPD that has been used for 60 years in the tires has recently been shown to affect salmon populations and there is a growing concern and a drive to reduce or eliminate the use of 6-PPD.
Last Modified: 06/17/2023
Modified by: Ali N Dhinojwala
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