The Center for Materials Innovation at Michigan is a Materials Research Science and Engineering Center supported by the National Science Foundation. The Center establishes a transformative campus-wide eco-system to accelerate the design, discovery, and deployment of novel materials critical for the Industries of Tomorrow, including advanced manufacturing, clean energy/sustainability, artificial intelligence, and future semiconductors.
IRG 1: Endotaxial 2D Polytype Heterostructures - will define a new class of materials wherein distinct polytypes are synthesized within each other (endotaxy), to create robust, novel quantum states at ultra-clean 2D interfaces. The approach consists of computationally driven prediction of endotaxial materials and their distinct properties, followed by synthesis of endotaxial materials compatible with nanoelectronics processing, discovery of novel quantum states, and demonstration of endotaxial devices. These previously elusive quantum states are expected to enable rapid progress in classical and quantum information processing.
IRG 2: Covalent Adaptable Networks (CAN) - aims to discover and deploy new polymeric materials with highly reactive crosslinker molecules forming reversible covalent bonds between chains, imparting self-healing, reconfiguration, and recycling capabilities. Simulation-based and data-driven design of crosslinker architectures are combined with a revised viscoelasticity theory to predict the responsiveness of CAN systems to thermal, mechanical, and photonic stimuli. Synthesis, characterization, and analysis of application-specific performance criteria for the most promising designs result in new fundamental understanding that enables the development of rapidly recyclable plastics, recurrently self-healing structural composites, new additive manufacturing routes, self-triggered mechanical metamaterials, and functional materials whose properties can be regulated on demand.
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