CAREER: Hierarchically-Structured, Ultra-Thin Inorganic Membranes

Lehigh University, Bethlehem PA

Investigators

Abstract

CBET-1351613 Snyder The primary transformative scientific impact of this CAREER program will be the development of novel and scalable strategies for reducing carbon molecular sieve (CMS) film thickness to unprecedented nanometer-scale levels for orders of magnitude improvement in flux and industrially relevant selectivities. The intellectual merit will be further defined by the fundamental elucidation of critical synthesis-structure-function relations governing how nanoscale confinement, through its control of CMS microstructure, can serve as a powerful handle for tuning CMS texture and thus selectivity. Success of this program will create a transformative shift in the paradigm for CMS membrane synthesis, establish new insights into tunable synergies between material structure and function, and, thereby, set the stage for CMS membranes, and even related inorganic membranes, to realize the quantum leap in performance that is required to meet and exceed demands for industrial viability. Underlying this CAREER program is the desire to establish synergies between materials synthesis and molecular-level understanding in order to realize rational materials design. The resulting hierarchically structured materials and mechanistic insight into membrane transport should lead to new synthesis paradigms in membrane technologies and applications as far-reaching as sensing, catalysis, and storage. A keystone of the broader impact will be the development of a novel three-tiered (i.e., illustration-guided demonstration-assessment) inquiry-based learning module titled "Molecular Traffic Control" that will apply HEXBUG Nano®s for a macroscopic illustration of molecular diffusion and interactions. A multi-level implementation strategy will leverage this module for increasingly broad dissemination starting with a local middle school science class and Saturday science/math academy (STAR Academy) composed of a culturally diverse, socioeconomically challenged group of students. Subsequent extension to all middle school science classes, district science classes, and eventual implementation at the regional science fair for students, teachers, and parents is planned. The CAREER program will also impact graduate students involved directly and indirectly in the proposed work by providing them with breadth and depth of knowledge in fields of membranes/transport phenomena, materials synthesis, and materials characterization.