Innovating Across the Life Cycle of Macromolecular Materials
Speaker
LaShanda Korley
Distinguished Professor, Department of Materials Science and Engineering
University of Delaware
Abstract
Innovating Across the Life Cycle of Macromolecular Materials
Polymers are ubiquitous in the modern world, and the demand for and production of plastic products continues to rise. Alternative approaches are critical in the transition from a dependence on petroleum feedstocks to the utilization of biomass building blocks towards the development of robust polymeric materials with exceptional mechanical function and thermal properties. I will share innovations to establish a life cycle management framework for polymer design, focusing on biomass building blocks derivable from lignin sources. Examples of performance-advantaged polymer materials, including thermoplastics and thermosets, will be described, with the potential to address the health impacts of petroleum-derived analogs; promote sustainable manufacturing; enable robust end-of-life valorization; and serve as functional matrices for composite design. Emerging research to establish key design rules connecting reprocessability, feedstock source, manufacturability, and performance also will be highlighted.
Historically, the chemical manufacturing of plastics has focused on key features, such as durability, low cost, and multifunctionality; however, these aspects also challenge current deconstruction and upgrading efforts to combat the plastics waste dilemma, particularly ‘real’ waste streams. I will overview fundamental challenges to plastics recycling. With this framework, I will highlight strategies designed to tackle the architectural complexity of plastics waste, address the influence of additives and contaminants in plastics waste deconstruction, and describe analytical methods and computational tools to probe polymer-catalyst interactions. Collectively, these vignettes provide insight into the interplay of architecture, formulation diversity, and form factor on plastics deconstruction and upgrading.
Bio
Prof. LaShanda T. J. Korley is a Distinguished Professor of Engineering in the Departments of Materials Science & Engineering and Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Delaware (UD). Korley is the Director of the Energy Frontier Research Center – Center for Plastics Innovation funded by the Department of Energy and also the Co-Director of the Materials Research Science and Center – UD Center for Hybrid, Active, and Responsive Materials funded by the National Science Foundation. She also is an Associate Editor for ACS Macro Letters. Her innovative research program utilizes a bioeconomy framework or the nexus of biologically inspired and sustainable principles for the molecular design, manufacture, and valorization of functional polymeric systems, including thermoplastics, networks, composites, and gels. Korley has received several distinguished honors, including 2023 (ACS Fellow, AIChE Fellow, Fellow of RSC, ACS POLY Fellow); 2022 (APS Fellow, ACS PMSE Fellow); 2021 Chemical and Engineering News Black Trailblazer); 2020 AIMBE Fellow, 2012 Kavli Fellow. LaShanda was selected for the 2023 U.S. Science Envoy Cohort by the U.S. State Department. She received a B.S. in both Chemistry & Engineering from Clark Atlanta University as well as a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Korley completed her doctoral studies at MIT in Chemical Engineering and the Program in Polymer Science and Technology, and she was the recipient of the Provost’s Academic Diversity Postdoctoral Fellowship at Cornell University.