GOALI: Advancing Thermal Field-Flow Fractionation for Complex Polymers and Colloids

Colorado School Of Mines, Golden CO

Investigators

Abstract

This project is supported by the Chemical Measurement and Imaging program of the Chemistry Division. Professor Kim Williams of the Colorado School of Mines (CSM) is developing thermal field-flow fractionation (ThFFF) as a versatile platform for separating and characterizing complex polymers and colloids. Thermal diffusion in liquids presents a novel way of separating and analyzing mixtures of plastics and other very large molecules. This project uses the NSF Grant Opportunities for Academic Liaison with Industry (GOALI) mechanism to for a collaboration between Dr. Williams' lab and Dow Chemical Company. The academic/industrial collaboration serves as a model for combining expertise in separation science, that may lead to insights about product performance. An outreach program developed by Professor Williams brings science and discovery to students with learning disabilities (dyslexia) and introduces future teachers in the STEM Teacher Education program at CSM. Students relate well to the textural and visual nature of these polymer and colloid activities and thus, outreach activities are carried out at the Rocky Mountain Camp for Dyslexic Youths. These low cost and safe hands-on experiments introduce to students in the STEM Teacher Education program at the Colorado School of Mines. The broader impacts of this work include technical benefits through better designed (more environmentally friendly) products, and educational benefits for the students and scientists who are trained in an industrial and academic setting. Ultrahigh molecular weight or ultralarge polymers and colloid surface characterizations are analytical challenges. Reliable methods for determining molecular weight distributions do not currently exist for these materials. The objectives for this work are to develop and test thermal field-flow fractionation (ThFFF) for ultralarge (>100 nm or >103 kDa) polymers. The researchers determine experimental approaches that provide additional control of thermal diffusion of colloids and demonstrate their use for surface composition/charge separations and analyses. They also identify a working particle thermophoresis theory. An outreach program developed by Professor Williams brings science and discovery to students with learning disabilities (dyslexia) and introduces future teachers in the STEM Teacher Education program at CSM. The broader impacts of this work include potential societal benefits through better designed (more environmentally friendly) products, students and scientists who are trained in an industrial and academic setting, and more experienced future STEM teachers. Innovative analytical methods that result from this work may impact science and technologies associated with polymers and colloids (natural, biological, and synthetic). The close collaboration between CSM and Dow scientists improves research impact and develops the next generation work force through students' exposure to industry. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.