A team of Georgia Tech scientists has unveiled groundbreaking DUCKY polymers in Nature Materials, offering innovative applications in membrane separation technology, including biofuels, biodegradable plastics, and pulp and paper products. These polymers are uniquely structured to allow selective molecule passage, thanks to spirocyclic monomers and a copper-catalyzed reaction known as CuAAC, earning them the nickname DUCKY. Collaborating with ExxonMobil, they've demonstrated the membrane's effectiveness in extracting valuable materials from crude oil components. In another study published in Nature Communications, the researchers harnessed machine learning to predict polymer membrane performance in complex separations, propelling the materials design process from trial-and-error to data-driven predictions, a development hailed as revolutionary by the scientific community.
