GOALI: Structural Design at the Polymer -Surface Interface with Nanoporous Silica-Polyamine Composites

University Of Montana, Missoula MT

Investigators

Abstract

The Analytical and Surface Chemistry program in the Division of Chemistry and the GOALI program of the Engineering Directorate and will support the research program of Prof. Edward Rosenberg of the University of Montana. Prof. Rosenberg and his students, in collaboration with a local company, has developed a novel class of amorphous silica-polymer composite materials that are being commercially produced and are being used in the mining and remediation industries. Despite their improved performance relative to competitive technologies the structural features of the interface between the amorphous inorganic matrix and the grafted organic polymer are poorly understood. Prof. Rosenberg and his students will develop and employ novel approaches for manipulating the inorganic-organic interface by controlling the structure of the silica using sol-gel chemistry and the structure of the polymer graft by using structurally diverse anchor molecules. Novel spectroscopic methods for analyzing the resulting composites as well as computational modeling will be used to assess the impact of these interface manipulations. The results will have broad impact on the design of inorganic-organic hybrid materials. The research program will provide excellent training opportunities to students in the area of composite materials. Prof. Rosenberg will involve students from the Salish Kootenai tribal college in Pablo, Montana in his research program.