This CAREER proposal seeks to change the approach to chemical and material innovation globally through an integrated research and education program that incorporates environmental objectives and traditional performance and cost metrics in engineering innovation strategies. To achieve this goal, the PI proposed an educational program that trains next generation engineers to work in collaborative teams of experts, preserving academic rigor in each discipline while simultaneously attaining the broad goals of the technical and environmental design requirements. This is an ideal platform to demonstrate that co-optimization of environmental and performance objectives will not slow progress to market, but instead supply a novel toolset that can provide transformative advances and accelerate discovery.
Novel advanced materials are required to meet several of the NAE Grand Challenges. Carbon nanotubes are particularly well-suited to address two of the primary environmental engineering directives of water access and viable renewable energy. To enable these important applications, the principle investigator (PI) proposes a research program to surmount limitations in carbon nanotube manufacture via: (1) uncovering the chemical mechanisms associated with carbon-carbon bond building during carbon nanotube synthesis, (2) leveraging this mechanistic understanding to exert precision control on nanotube morphology and bond placement, enhancing the atom economy while minimizing unwanted byproduct formation, and, (3) as a consequence, maximizing the material performance while minimizing the environmental impacts at a reduced fabrication cost for a sustained benefit to the national economy. If successful, the proposed work will contribute a fundamental understanding to the fields of heterogeneous catalysis and nanofabrication and unlock the unattained, transformative materials needed to address the world's water, climate, and energy storage needs. Last, because of the intellectual value of the demonstrated simultaneous-optimization platform for all future technologies, this work could have far-reaching and unimagined benefits in the engineering innovation space. Using a novel Mango Tango chemistry/reactor system, the PI proposes that the carbon precursor controls the reaction product, allowing one to tailor the chirality of SWCNT as well as the surface chemistry. This will allow the production of surfaces that can be used in a variety of applications. In this system, the carbon nanotubes are generated on a fixed substrate rather than in a flowing gas reactor. By using alkynes with different side R groups, the PI can produce a variety of different surface chemistries and dictate the chirality of the product. Student colloquia will address a critical gap in professional preparation trainings and in public communication skills for engineering students.
