This Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Mathematical and Physical Sciences Program (CFDA 47.049) provides $665,958 to the University of Minnesota to conduct fundamental research on the discovery and development of new sustainable polyester-based plastics and elastomers. The research team, led by Professor Marc A. Hillmyer, aims to generate high-performance polymeric compounds that can be industrially composted at the end of their use, promoting a practical...
This $359,999 Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's Mathematical and Physical Sciences program (CFDA 47.049) supports a collaborative research effort led by Dr. Aleksandr Zhukhovitskiy of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Dr. Ian Tonks of the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. The project aims to develop catalytic methods for editing the molecular architectures of various plastics, including polyesters and polyurethanes, to enable transformations...
This $420,000 federal Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Division of Chemistry, under the Mathematical and Physical Sciences program (CFDA 47.049), supports a collaborative research effort between the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. The project aims to develop catalytic methods to edit the molecular architectures of various plastics, such as polyesters and polyurethanes, by leveraging stereospectific and...
This $248,000 federal Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's Mathematical and Physical Sciences program (CFDA 47.049) supports computational and theoretical research to model crystallization in semicrystalline polymer blends, such as recycled commodity plastics. The research aims to enhance the material properties of recycled plastics by understanding and predicting how different polymers crystallize near phase-separated interfaces in these blends. Key objectives include...
This $510,000 federal Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Mathematical and Physical Sciences program (CFDA 47.049) aims to develop a practical and scalable approach for the universal compatibilization of polymers, facilitating the recycling of mixed plastic waste. The project, led by the University of California, Irvine, will investigate two innovative compatibilization methods based on dynamic covalent chemistry. The first method will introduce dynamic crosslinks...
The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded a $742,587 Project Grant through its Mathematical and Physical Sciences program (CFDA 47.049) to The Trustees of Princeton University's Office of Research and Project Administration Division. The grant supports Princeton's research to develop degradable polymers derived from commodity plastic monomers. Key objectives include investigating the kinetics and mechanisms of cobalt-mediated radical copolymerization of isocyanides and acrylates,...
This $555,000 Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's Mathematical and Physical Sciences (CFDA 47.049) program will support Professor Stephen A. Miller of the University of Florida in converting post-consumer plastic waste and bio-based feedstocks into a novel family of sustainable polymers. The key objectives are to: 1) optimize the depolymerization of polyesters, nylons, and other commodity polymers via aminolysis; 2) optimize the Amide to Ester Polymerization (ATEP) process...
This National Science Foundation (NSF) Project Grant, awarded under the Engineering program (CFDA 47.041), will fund research to develop a novel biocatalytic process for deconstructing and recycling polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastics. The $378,682 award to the University of Colorado aims to explore the use of natural enzymes, such as lipases, to break down PET in nonaqueous solvents rather than water, which can improve the efficiency and conversion of plastic waste. The research will...
This Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Division of Materials Research (DMR), under the Mathematical and Physical Sciences (CFDA 47.049) program, supports a collaborative research project to accelerate the discovery of sustainable bioplastics. The $114,000 award to the University of Washington aims to combine high-throughput data capture, multiscale modeling, and machine learning to understand the molecular and chemical mechanisms controlling the transformation of...
The National Science Foundation (NSF) Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) has awarded a $463,136 Project Grant to the University of Massachusetts Lowell to explore a hybrid approach to upcycling waste polyethylene (PE) into value-added chemicals. The two-step process involves oxidative catalytic pyrolysis to decompose PE into intermediate products, followed by bioconversion using engineered yeast to produce nylon precursors and other platform chemicals. The research aims to develop an economical...
The National Science Foundation Division of Materials Research awarded a $950,000 Project Grant to the Regents of the University of Minnesota under the Mathematical and Physical Sciences program (CFDA 47.049) to develop economically viable approaches for recycling the most prevalent commodity plastics. Specifically, the five-year award will fund research to synthesize triblock and multiblock copolymers that can localize at phase-separated domain interfaces when blended plastics are melt mixed, with the goal of constraining polymer topology and promoting cocrystallization to achieve interfacial strength and mechanical properties comparable to virgin homopolymers. The University will explore micelle formation and interfacial activity of polyethylene-polypropylene, polystyrene-polypropylene, and polystyrene-polyethylene diblock, triblock, and multiblock copolymers using scattering and microscopy techniques, and evaluate blended formulations for ductility through tensile, impact, and peel testing under various processing conditions. The award supports the NSF's mission to strengthen the nation's scientific enterprise through increased fundamental understanding and sustainability solutions to societal challenges like plastic waste recycling.