Project Grant 2138756
- This National Science Foundation (NSF) Project Grant award under the Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) will provide $402,134 from September 1, 2024 to August 31, 2027 to support research and development of a novel class of semiconductor nanostructures called non-Hermitian topological photonic crystals. The key products and services to be delivered include: Designing, fabricating, and characterizing the optical properties and optoelectronic device applications of these photonic crystal slabs,...
- This Project Grant award, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under the Mathematical and Physical Sciences (CFDA 47.049) program, supports research into developing ultra-high-strength carbon nanofibers through the process of pyrolysis. The $390,152 award, effective September 1, 2024 through August 31, 2028, will be carried out by the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (Tees). The key objectives of this research project are to investigate the impact of defects, such as...
- This $200,000 National Science Foundation (NSF) award under the Mathematical and Physical Sciences program (CFDA 47.049) supports a collaborative research project led by the University of California, Berkeley to develop and harness quasi-one-dimensional topological materials for novel electronic, optoelectronic, and sensing functionalities. The project aims to overcome current limitations of topological insulators by focusing on quasi-1D materials, which have the potential to enable new...
- This $562,789 Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) to Arizona State University aims to deepen the understanding of deformation mechanisms in axially bi-continuous graphene-nickel composites. The project will leverage new laser-based material processing and microdevice-based characterization methods to investigate the strengthening mechanisms of these graphene-metal composites, which can potentially lead to the development of...
- This Project Grant award of $274,919 from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (CFDA 47.084) program supports the development of a new class of high-performance composite materials made from aluminum and carbon fiber. The key focus is on improving the interface between the metal and carbon fiber phases to create a low-defect, high-strength material with enhanced mechanical properties. The research aims to elucidate the microstructural evolution and...
- This five-year $565,337 Project Grant from the National Science Foundation's Division of Civil, Mechanical, and Manufacturing Innovation, under the Engineering program (CFDA 47.041), will support fundamental research and education on electro-mechanical behaviors of soft conductive composites embedded with liquid metal fiber networks. The principal investigator will employ an integrated experimental-theoretical-computational approach to characterize network geometry evolution under extreme...
- This Project Grant award for $313,087 from the National Science Foundation's Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) will support a collaborative research initiative at the State University of New York at Binghamton to develop a physics-informed machine learning framework for tailoring the multidirectional mechanical properties of composite materials. The research aims to create a data-driven approach to understand the relationship between material architecture and mechanical behavior, facilitating...
- This National Science Foundation (NSF) project grant award of $400,000, titled "COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: DMREF: TOPOLOGICALLY DESIGNED AND RESILIENT ULTRAHIGH TEMPERATURE CERAMICS," aims to develop a new method to simultaneously improve both the low temperature and high temperature properties of ultra-high temperature ceramic materials. The project will utilize a combination of computational tools, including first principles and machine learning, integrated with experimental methods...
- This Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) aims to develop a new class of fiber-reinforced plastics (FRPs) based on vitrimers. Vitrimers are polymers that can reverse fatigue-induced damage when exposed to heat, improving the durability, safety, and lifecycle performance of FRPs in high-performance applications such as aerospace, automotive, and medical devices. The $150,027 award to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute will systematically...
- This Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Engineering Directorate (CFDA 47.041) provides $624,884 to the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) to conduct research that aims to enable the reliable design of nanostructured devices. The key objectives are to: Investigate the probabilistic strength distribution of nanoscale materials and structures using high-throughput testing to generate statistically significant data. This data will be used to evaluate and develop more...
ERI: TAILORING PIEZORESISTIVE EFFECT OF NANOCOMPOSITES USING TOPOLOGICAL DESIGN -THIS AWARD IS FUNDED IN WHOLE OR IN PART UNDER THE AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN ACT OF 2021 (PUBLIC LAW 117-2). POLYMER NANOCOMPOSITES HOLD SIGNIFICANT POTENTIAL AS MULTIFUNCTIONAL ELECTRONIC COMPONENTS, WHICH CAN PROVIDE TREMENDOUS NOVEL OPPORTUNITIES FOR ADVANCING VARIOUS APPLICATIONS, SUCH AS STRUCTURAL HEALTH MONITORING (SHM), HEALTHCARE, ROBOTICS, AND NATIONAL SECURITY AND ECONOMY. AMONG THE UNIQUE PROPERTIES OF NANOCOMPOSITES, STRAIN SENSITIVITY (I.E., PIEZORESISTIVE EFFECT) HAS BEEN COMMONLY OBSERVED. HIGH PIEZORESISTIVE EFFECT OF NANOCOMPOSITES CAN REMARKABLY BENEFIT STRAIN SENSING IN SHM, WEARABLE SENSORS, AND ROBOTICS, AMONG OTHERS. ON THE OTHER HAND, PIEZORESISTIVE EFFECT CAN ALSO BE UNDESIRABLE AND HINDER THE APPLICATIONS OF NANOCOMPOSITES AS ELECTRONIC COMPONENTS FOR FLEXIBLE DISPLAYS, ENERGY HARVESTING, AND MULTIMODAL SENSORS. THEREFORE, THE PIEZORESISTIVE EFFECT OF NANOCOMPOSITES NEEDS TO BE EFFECTIVELY DESIGNED AND TUNED TO OPTIMAL RANGES DEPENDING ON TARGET FUNCTIONALITY. CURRENT DESIGN APPROACHES MOSTLY FOCUS ON ENGINEERING THE MATERIAL COMPONENTS OF NANOCOMPOSITES, WHICH GENERALLY ENTAIL EMPIRICAL AND INEFFICIENT PROCESSES DUE TO THE COMPLEX PROCESS-STRUCTURE-PROPERTY RELATIONSHIPS OF RESULTING MATERIAL SYSTEMS. TO ADDRESS THIS CHALLENGE, THIS RESEARCH AIMS TO ESTABLISH AN INNOVATIVE DESIGN STRATEGY BASED ON TOPOLOGICAL DESIGN TO ENGINEER THE PIEZORESISTIVE BEHAVIOR OF NANOCOMPOSITES IN A PREDICTABLE MANNER. THIS PROJECT WILL PROVIDE HANDS-ON RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES TO ENGAGE UNDERREPRESENTED AND FIRST-GENERATION COLLEGE STUDENTS IN DEVELOPING NANOMATERIAL-BASED ELECTRONICS. IN ADDITION, A NEW COURSE AND SEVERAL MULTIDISCIPLINARY CAPSTONE DESIGN PROJECTS WILL BE DEVELOPED BASED ON THIS RESEARCH PROJECT, WHICH WILL ENRICH AND IMPROVE THE ENGINEERING EDUCATION AT A MINORITY-SERVING INSTITUTION. THIS PROJECT WILL INVESTIGATE THE CORRELATION BETWEEN THE PIEZORESISTIVE EFFECT OF NANOCOMPOSITES AND TOPOLOGICAL DESIGN BY FOCUSING ON THREE RESEARCH THRUSTS. FIRST, TWO MAIN CATEGORIES OF TOPOLOGIES, INCLUDING STRESS-CONCENTRATING AND STRESS-RELEASING TOPOLOGIES, WILL BE DESIGNED FOR ALTERING THE STRESS DISTRIBUTION IN THE MATERIAL SYSTEM. THEIR MECHANICAL RESPONSES TO EXTERNAL LOADS WILL BE CHARACTERIZED VIA FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS AND LOAD TESTS. SECOND, CARBON NANOTUBE-, GRAPHENE-, AND SILVER NANOWIRE-BASED PIEZORESISTIVE NANOCOMPOSITES WILL BE FABRICATED USING ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING TECHNIQUES AND BE PATTERNED TO FORM THE PRE-DESIGNED TOPOLOGIES. ELECTROMECHANICAL EXPERIMENTS WILL BE CONDUCTED TO CHARACTERIZE AND COMPARE THE PIEZORESISTIVE RESPONSE OF THE PATTERNED NANOCOMPOSITES. IN ADDITION, STATISTICAL ANALYSIS WILL BE PERFORMED TO INVESTIGATE THE CORRELATION BETWEEN THE PIEZORESISTIVE BEHAVIOR AND THE TOPOLOGICAL DESIGN. THIRD, TO BETTER UNDERSTAND THE PIEZORESISTIVE PERFORMANCE OF PATTERNED NANOCOMPOSITES, STOCHASTIC MATERIAL MODELS WILL BE DEVELOPED BY STATISTICALLY RECONSTRUCTING THE MICROSTRUCTURES OF NANOCOMPOSITES BASED ON MICROSCOPIC IMAGES. THEN, THE MATERIAL MODELS WILL BE USED FOR SIMULATING THE ELECTROMECHANICAL RESPONSES OF DIFFERENT TOPOLOGIES. THE SIMULATION RESULTS WILL BE COMPARED WITH THE EXPERIMENTAL MEASUREMENTS. THIS RESEARCH WILL GENERATE NEW FUNDAMENTAL KNOWLEDGE ON THE EFFECTS OF TOPOLOGICAL DESIGN ON THE PIEZORESISTIVE BEHAVIOR OF NANOCOMPOSITES, WHICH WILL ENHANCE THE DESIGN EFFICIENCY AND PERFORMANCE OF NANOMATERIAL-BASED MULTIFUNCTIONAL ELECTRONICS. 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.
Mod # | Description | ReasonForModification | Federal Obligation | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Not listed | $0 | 1/23/26 | ||
| Not listed | $194.7k | 2/18/22 |