Nancy R. Sottos

Inspired by autonomous function in biological systems, the Sottos group develops polymers and advanced polymer-based composite materials capable of self-healing and regeneration, self-reporting, and self-protection. A key goal is to control the entire material lifecycle to improve reliability and extend material lifetimes. The Sottos group seeks to understand the coupled physical behavior of these complex, heterogeneous materials through meso and microscale characterization of mechano-chemical deformation and failure mechanisms. She is part of a collaborative interdisciplinary research team that first introduced self-healing polymers based on microencapsulated monomeric healing agents coupled with matrix-embedded catalysts. Sottos and her team made additional advances to realize autonomous function in materials, including the introduction of microvascular networks and the design of mechanochemically active polymeric materials where mechanical force initiates a chemical reaction that provides assessment of the stress state prior to failure. Sottos is also interested in the development of biologically inspired, energy efficient methods based on frontal polymerization to manufacture polymers and composites with autonomous functions.