Sottos, Moore help lead national center into next phase of polymer network research

Two faculty members from The Grainger College of Engineering and the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign are playing central roles in a national research center aiming to understand how molecular-level chemistry governs the mechanical behavior of materials. Nancy Sottos and Jeff Moore are senior investigators in the National Science Foundation Center for the Chemistry of Molecularly Optimized Networks (NSF MONET), which has just received a major infusion of federal support to continue probing one of chemistry's most complex and consequential frontiers: polymer networks.

The U.S. National Science Foundation announced it is investing $19.8 million over five years as a renewed investment in the center, funded through the NSF Centers for Chemical Innovation program. This initiative supports major, long-term collaborative efforts aimed at foundational challenges in fundamental chemistry. It’s the kind of work that requires substantial teams and sustained investment to reach a breakthrough.

NSF first gave seed funding to the MONET project in 2018 and scaled up contributions in 2021, with the goal of enhancing the understanding of polymer network properties, which are notoriously challenging to understand and predict. As a new phase of innovation commences, there will be involvement from two Illinois faculty: Nancy Sottos of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and Jeff Moore of the Department of Chemistry. Moore holds an affiliate faculty position in the Illinois materials department. 

Moore's group focuses on molecular mechanochemistry and the design of polymer networks. As MONET enters this new phase, his team is working to understand how polymer networks transmit mechanical forces to embedded molecular probes — and to use that understanding to engineer materials that respond constructively when placed under mechanical load. One translational goal Moore's group is pursuing is what they call "Drop-In-Ready Function": a strategy for introducing mechanochemical capabilities into existing high-performance engineering polymers without having to redesign the underlying material from scratch.

The Sottos group contributes deep expertise in mechanics, mechanical characterization, damage and materials response, providing the experimental bridge connecting molecular-scale events to network-scale mechanical behavior — a connection central to MONET's broader mission. Sottos and materials science and engineering PhD student Sunay Ekim are developing in situ methods to probe molecular states through systematic measurements of the network ensemble response.  The goal is to establish rich set of quantitative molecule-to-material structure-activity relationships by investigating a combination of tunable networks.

That bridge is already producing results. A study MONET researchers published in June in Nature showed that the impact resistance of some common polymers can be improved, somewhat paradoxically, by engineering weaker bonds into the material. Those selectively weaker mechanochemical crosslinks allow energy to dissipate more effectively, dramatically increasing the material's ability to absorb ballistic impact with less damage.

Looking ahead, Moore said the Illinois team is now expanding its focus to examine how both force-induced bond breaking and force-induced bond formation can be harnessed to selectively remodel polymer networks while they are under load. This work could open new pathways for designing materials that respond adaptively to mechanical loading, selectively dissipating energy, reinforcing or reconfiguring as conditions demand. 

Illinois Grainger Engineering Affiliations

Jeffrey S. Moore is an Illinois Grainger Engineering affiliate professor of materials science and engineering in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. He is a research professor of chemistry in the Department of Chemistry, housed in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign. He holds the titles of Stanley O. Ikenberry Research Professor and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor. 

Nancy Sottos is an Illinois Grainger Engineering professor of materials science and engineering in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and holds the Maybelle Leland Swanlund Endowed Chair appointment. She also serves as co-leader of the Autonomous Materials Systems Group at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology and is a Center for Advanced Study professor.