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WWU's Mike Larsen wins prestigious CAREER grant from the NSF

Award will allow him to continue his research into biodegradable polymers that might one day replace plastics

Associate Professor of Chemistry Mike Larsen’s work to engineer a degradable alternative to plastic recently received the National Science Foundation’s most prestigious award in support of early-career faculty. 

Plastic can take 1,000 years or longer to decompose, and when plastic is unable to decompose for so long, it accumulates in landfills, oceans, and even our bodies. Approximately 440 million tons of plastic waste are produced each year. 

Plastics are persistent because they are comprised of long, chain-like molecules. These molecules are formed from strong chemical bonds that are hard to break. While this creates a durable product, it also creates a barrier for decomposition, which occurs when these bonds finally begin to break down. 

Mike Larsen just received a $592,000 CAREER grant from the National Science Foundation to continue his research into biodegradable polymers. (WWU photo and video by Sean Curtis Patrick and Luke Hollister)

Materials that have weaker molecular interactions, known as “supramolecular polymers,” offer a more easily reusable and recyclable alternative to plastic. Larsen’s goal is to design a new class of supramolecular polymers and degradable materials that closely mimic plastic. 

His five-year NSF CAREER grant for $592,576, “Leveraging Noncovalent Interactions to Design Tunable, Reprocessable, and Degradable Materials,” will fund this research. 

“The cool thing about these materials, which they share with plastics, is that their properties — and therefore their potential applications — are largely dictated by their molecular structure,” Larsen said. “So, we're excited about the possibility for all kinds of things, which we can easily optimize and change based on the chemical structure of the components.” 

These materials could be used to replace many single-use plastics where longevity or durability are not a major concern, Larsen said. This includes packaging or simple adhesives which account for 36% of plastics produced — 85% of which end up in landfills, according to the United Nations Environment Programme.   

‘Just add water’ 

Part of Larsen’s research will be to see if the materials he creates can introduce a product that consumers can compost in their backyards. Current alternatives to plastic, such as compostable silverware, can only be processed in an industrial facility.  

Some composting may be so simple it feels like a magic trick – just add water, and watch it disappear. 

“We've already seen that some materials will dissolve and disappear quickly in water, which might be good for some applications but not if you want to use it as a soup spoon, for example,” Larsen said. “We're hopeful that we can tune things like water solubility and degradability based on molecular structure, which this grant will help us investigate.” 

The challenge with creating easily compostable materials is finding the balance between shelf life and a having the materials biodegrade quickly.   

Ideally you'd like things to break down quickly — days to weeks, even — when you're done with them, but not before that. That's a very tricky needle to thread.

Mike Larsen

“Ideally you'd like things to break down quickly — days to weeks, even — when you're done with them, but not before that,” Larsen said. “That's a very tricky needle to thread.” 

The grant will also fund both undergraduate and graduate-level research, with Larsen expecting to have up to nine undergraduates and two master’s students working in his lab. These students will be the main drivers of the research’s progress, he said. 

“This is possible because Western, and the College of Science and Engineering in particular, has such a strong culture of meaningful research participation for undergraduate and master's students,” he said. “Additionally, the instrumentation infrastructure and staff expertise in facilities such as the Advanced Materials Science and Engineering Center and SciTech helps such participation result in exciting scientific progress.” 

In addition to research, the grant supports the creation of a regional polymer symposium focused on inviting doctoral students, postdocs and early-career scientists around the Pacific Northwest to Western.  

“While there is a strong community of research-active students here at Western, we don't really have the opportunity for our students to develop relationships with researchers at the next stage of their careers, such as Ph.D. students or postdocs,” Larsen said. “In a lot of cases, these relationships can be important for undergraduates and master's students to have a model for what they might do in the future and figure out how best to navigate towards that goal.” 

Larsen’s CAREER grant is indicative of his quality of both research and instruction, CSE Dean Janelle Leger said.  

"This well-deserved recognition is reflective of Dr. Larsen's strong research record and standing in the scientific community, but it is also illustrative of what makes Western so special: our exceptional faculty who are not only dedicated and talented teachers, but who also engage undergraduate and master's-level students in cutting-edge research and enable their role as key contributors to the generation of new and impactful scientific knowledge,” she said. “This project also helps to secure Western's growing reputation as leaders in the field of sustainable materials and technologies."