Polymers are ubiquitous in our world. Many applications require the use of materials with lightweight, but high mechanical strength. For this purpose, polymer networks are made by interconnecting the individual polymer fibers. To enable the fabrication of network materials with fewer defects and superior properties, Professors Johnson and Olsen of Massachusetts Institute of Technology seek to develop experimental and theoretical strategies for preparing new polymer networks and understanding their structures at the molecular level. The project aims to gain important fundamental knowledge for guiding the design of next-generation materials for biomedical applications, light harvesting, and membrane technology. The broader impacts of the project involve interdisciplinary research training of graduate and undergraduate students through a strong collaboration between experiment and theory. The research team also develops hands-on teaching modules on polymer gels for middle school students.
There are three complementary research components in this project that are co-funded by the NSF Division of Chemistry and the Division of Materials Research. The first part aims to develop experimental techniques for quantitative analysis of defects in polymer networks. The second part seeks to understand the relationship between network topology and monomer feed rate and to develop new theoretical and computational methods to predict how network topology relates to processing conditions. The final aim focuses on the development of a new method for controlling network topology using light.
