About

Nancy R. Sottos holds the Maybelle Leland Swanlund Endowed Chair and is the Head of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She is the leader of the Autonomous Materials Systems (AMS) group at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, the director of the EFRC on Regenerative Energy Efficient Manufacturing of Thermoset Polymeric Materials (REMAT), and the director of the University of Illinois spoke of the BP International Center for Advanced Materials (ICAM). Sottos is also a co-founder of the start-up companies Autonomous Materials Inc. (AMI) and RapiCure Solutions. Her research group develops polymers and composites capable of self-healing and regeneration, self-reporting, and self-protection to improve reliability and extend material lifetime. Her current research interests focus on circular additive and morphogenic manufacturing strategies for polymeric and composite materials with programmed end of life. She is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Sciences, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is a Fellow of the Society for Experimental Mechanics, the Society for Engineering Science, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Sottos has received numerous awards, including the Nadai Medal from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the Society of Engineering Science Medal.

Research topics

• Materials science
• Chemistry
• Organic chemistry
• Nanotechnology
• Polymer chemistry
• Composite material
• Chemical engineering

Selected publications

• Trade-off between curing energy and rate in incremental composite manufacturing by frontal polymerization

  Composites Part A Applied Science and Manufacturing · 2026-04-13

  articleOpen access

  • Energy-time-efficient incremental curing of CFRP composites is achieved via FP. • Trade-off between curing energy and rate is analytically and numerically investigated. • Manufacturing parameters from the Pareto front are experimentally validated. • A normalized areal processing rate of 59.0 h −1 demonstrates scalable manufacturing. Manufacturing large carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) composite structures requires autoclaves that accommodate bulky volumes. The large volume and modest heating rates lead to inefficient power use and manufacturing time to achieve fully cured thermoset composites. In this study, the trade-off between curing energy and curing cycle time is numerically studied and experimentally validated for a frontal polymerization (FP)-based CFRP manufacturing process. To produce high-quality CFRP, the exothermic FP is thermally triggered using a heated tooling plate, enabling through-thickness FP under normal compaction pressure. To progressively cure large areas, the cured CFRP is translated after each curing step until the large composite part is fully processed. Computational modeling is first employed to study the trade-off relationship between the heating energy and curing time, and to identify the Pareto front for the lowest energy and highest cure rate. In addition, thermal cycle of the incremental curing process is further adjusted to reduce energy input and curing time. Incrementally cured CFRP composites achieve full cure at a normalized areal processing rate of 59.0 h −1 , with a high fiber volume fraction ( ϕ = 0.63 ) and a glass transition temperature ( T g = 166 °C). These results demonstrate the potential for rapid, scalable, and energy-saving manufacturing of large composite structures.

  PublisherDOI

• Effects of cleavable comonomer structure and crosslinker chemistry on the performance and deconstructability of frontally cured pDCPD composites

  Composites Part A Applied Science and Manufacturing · 2026-04-10

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Front Speed Measurements of the Frontal Polymerization of Cyclooctadiene/Grubbs Catalyst M204/Tributyl Phosphite Resins

  Globus Services · 2026-02-02

  datasetOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• Entanglement-Dominated Thermosets Enable High Performance with High-Fidelity Regeneration

  ChemRxiv · 2026-04-29

  article

  Thermoset plastics underpin structural materials, electronics, and transportation, yet their permanent covalent networks make recycling difficult.1–5 Existing recycling strategies for high‑Tg engineering applications that incorporate exchangeable6–15 or cleavable bonds16–20 often compromise stiffness, creep resistance, or thermal stability, and typically treat covalent junctions as the primary load-bearing elements.21,22 Rather than considering recycling as the recovery of degraded networks, here we construct thermosets in which high mechanical performance arises predominantly from dense chain entanglements, while only a sparse fraction of trigger-cleavable junctions preserves network connectivity. Long, rigid, entangled polyolefin backbones generated by frontal polymerization form high-Tg, glassy polymers with high stiffness, high toughness, and excellent creep suppression, yet fully deconstruct to soluble, linear oligomers. Programming oligomer length and end-group chemistry enables their reuse as re-entangling building blocks that regenerate thermosets with generation-invariant thermomechanical properties, including in high-temperature fiber reinforced composite matrices and additively manufactured structures. By demonstrating that load-bearing in high‑Tg engineering thermosets can be delivered primarily by entangled strands while sparse cleavable junctions preserve connectivity, this strategy maintains network topology across generations and establishes an entanglement-dominated design principle for regenerable, high-performance networks based on entanglement-dominated architectures.

  PublisherDOI

• Additive Manufacturing of Continuous Carbon Fiber Thermoset Composites Based on Frontal Polymerization

  2026-01-01

  book-chapter
  PublisherDOI

• Author Correction: Real-time process monitoring and automated control for direct ink write 3D printing of frontally polymerizing thermosets

  npj Advanced Manufacturing · 2025-08-18

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Multi‐Generational Frontal Curing and Chemical Recycling of Polydicyclopentadiene Thermosets

  Advanced Materials · 2025-05-16 · 8 citations

  article

  Polydicyclopentadiene (pDCPD) is a high-performance thermoset with lightweight and exceptional thermomechanical properties. However, its traditional thermal curing process is energy-intensive and lacks chemical recyclability. Frontal Ring-Opening Metathesis Polymerization (FROMP) is an energy-efficient curing process and allows additive manufacturing of pDCPD. 2,3-Dihydrofuran (DHF) has been shown as an effective comonomer to allow the deconstruction of pDCPD thermosets when incorporated at a small fraction in pDCPD. Herein, a simple strategy for chemical recycling of pDCPD thermosets is reported, and maintaining FROMP characteristics and thermomechanical properties of the thermosets over five life cycles. Norbornadiene (NBD) is a key additive in resins containing recycled pDCPD to enhance polymerization kinetics and sustain FROMP characteristics. A one-pot strategy is also developed to deconstruct pDCPD thermosets and simultaneously functionalize the chain ends with norbornenes for reincorporating deconstructed oligomers back to the next generation thermoset. Using these strategies, five generations of recycling pDCPD thermosets with invariable thermomechanical properties are demonstrated. This work highlights a scalable and energy-efficient process to produce chemically recyclable pDCPD thermosets, significantly improving the circularity of this class of high-performance thermosets.

  PublisherDOI

• Chemical Activation of Frontal Ring-Opening Metathesis Polymerization

  ACS Macro Letters · 2025-08-05 · 3 citations

  articleCorresponding

  In this study, we present an innovative approach to frontal ring-opening metathesis polymerization (FROMP) through chemical activation. By locally concentrating Grubbs-type initiators, we accelerate exothermic polymerization at the activation site. Sufficient thermal energy initiates a polymerization front that travels through the remainder of the sample even with reduced initiator concentrations in the bulk resin. Initiation location and timing are controlled by adjusting the initiator reactivity, the properties of the transport solvent, and the air-resin interface. Our technique enables multipoint front activation, either through synchronized injection or by timing the relative reactivity of various initiators. This accessible method of chemical activation enables on-demand production of polymer and composite materials using only the thermal energy generated by the reaction, removing the need for external power sources and enabling deployment in remote or infrastructure-limited environments.

  PublisherDOI

• Morphogenic Growth 3D Printing

  Advanced Materials · 2025-03-10 · 9 citations

  articleOpen access

  Abstract Inspired by nature's morphogenesis, a new 3D printing process –growth printing (GP)– takes advantage of a self‐propagating curing front to produce 3D polymeric parts following a growth‐like development plan. The propagation of the curing front is driven by the exothermic polymerization of dicyclopentadiene (DCPD), which transforms the liquid resin into a stiff polymer as it propagates at 1 mm s −1 . GP is triggered when a heated initiator contacts the uncured liquid resin in an open container. The initiator nucleates the frontal polymerization reaction and the isotropic radial propagation of the growth front. Simultaneously, the initiator is moved up across the free surface of the resin, pulling the cured object out of the uncured resin. The motion trajectory of the initiator with respect to the free resin surface controls the growth morphology of the 3D part. An inverse design algorithm is developed to produce 3D parts by modeling the reaction‐diffusion‐driven solidification process. This process has substantial energy savings and high printing speeds.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Multi-Generation Recycling of Thermosets Enabled by Fragment Reactivation

  Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2025-04-04 · 13 citations

  article

  Thermosets are used in numerous industrial applications due to their excellent stabilities and mechanical properties; however, their covalently cross-linked structures limit chemical circularity. Cleavable comonomers (CCs) offer a practical strategy to impart new end-of-life opportunities, such as deconstructability or remoldability, to thermosets without altering critical properties, cost, or manufacturing workflows. Nevertheless, CC-enabled recycling of thermosets has so far been limited to one cycle with a 25% recycled content. Here, we introduce a "fragment reactivation" strategy, wherein the oligomeric fragments obtained from CC-enabled thermoset deconstruction are activated with functional groups that improve fragment solubility and reactivity for subsequent rounds of recycling. Using polydicyclopentadiene (pDCPD), an industrial hydrocarbon thermoset material, containing low loadings of a siloxane-based CC, we first demonstrate two rounds of chemical recycling by incorporating 40 wt % norbornene silyl ether-reactivated fragments derived from the prior generation's deconstruction. Then, we show that the two-step sequence of deconstruction and reactivation can be unified into a single-step process, referred to as "deconstructive reactivation." Using this approach, we demonstrate three rounds of chemical recycling with 40-45 wt % fragments incorporated per cycle while maintaining key material properties and deconstructability. These three generations of recycling effectively extend the lifespan of deconstructable pDCPD thermosets by ∼2.6 times. Combined with CCs, fragment reactivation presents a promising and potentially generalizable strategy to improve the chemical recycling efficiency of thermosets.

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• GOALI: Dynamic Adhesive Failure of Patterned Thin Films

  NSF · $334k · 2007–2011

• LEAP HI: Manufacturing USA: Energy Efficient Processing of Thermoset Polymers and Composites

  NSF · $639k · 2018–2020

• Molecular Tailoring of Interfacial Fracture

  NSF · $341k · 2012–2016

• SusChem/FRG/GOALI: Mechanochemically Based Sustainable Polymers

  NSF · $800k · 2013–2017

• GOALI: Manufacturing USA: Energy Efficient Processing of Thermosetting Polymers and Composites

  NSF · $2.0M · 2019–2024

Frequent coauthors

• Scott R. White

  278 shared

• Jeffrey S. Moore

  University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

  193 shared

• Philippe H. Geubelle

  University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

  84 shared

• Ben Blaiszik

  Argonne National Laboratory

  34 shared

• Justine E. Paul

  University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

  27 shared

• Jacob J. Lessard

  University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

  24 shared

• Yuan Gao

  23 shared

• Susan A. Odom

  University of Kentucky

  22 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Materials Science and Engineering

  University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

  1999

• M.S., Materials Science and Engineering

  University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

  1994

• B.S., Materials Science and Engineering

  University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

  1992

Awards & honors

• Society for Experimental Mechanics Fellow
• Society for Engineering Science Fellow
• American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellow
• Nadai Medal (American Society of Mechanical Engineers)
• Society of Engineering Science Medal