This Project Grant from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency provides $668,000 in funding under the Scientific Research - Combating Weapons of Mass Destruction federal grant program (CFDA 12.351) to support fundamental research to counter weapons of mass destruction.
Specifically, the University of California, Berkeley will utilize molecular dynamics simulations to understand how random heteropolymers arrange within and around metal organic frameworks and provide functions such as stabilizing barriers and bridges between frameworks to generate self-healing films. Massachusetts Institute of Technology and University of Massachusetts will work with UC Berkeley to functionalize rod-like crystalline and amorphous porous nanoparticles with random heteropolymers to form nanoparticle surfactants, characterize individual functionalized particles using scattering methods, and assemble surfactants at liquid interfaces and on solid supports to generate high throughput monolayers for characterizing responses to chemical warfare agents. This collaboration aims to develop protective coatings through fundamental research on nanoparticle assembly and polymer interactions.