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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) - NSF Solid State and Materials Chemistry (SSMC)

What is the Solid State and Materials Chemistry (SSMC) opportunity?

Solid State and Materials Chemistry (SSMC) is a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant program that supports fundamental, discovery-driven research in solid state and materials chemistry. The emphasis is on generating new scientific understanding of how solid materials form and how their structures produce useful or unusual properties.

What is the main goal of the SSMC program?

The central aim is to understand, at the atomic and molecular level, how materials form and how structure leads to properties across length scales, from the nanoscale to bulk solids. SSMC is intended to strengthen mechanistic understanding of structure, composition, processing, and property relationships in solid materials.

Is SSMC focused on basic research or product development?

SSMC is framed as basic research rather than product development. Strong proposals typically advance first-principles understanding, new generalizable methods, or broadly applicable concepts, even when a project is motivated by long-term energy or sustainability goals.

What types of research are a strong fit for SSMC?

Projects are expected to move beyond creating a new material for its own sake. SSMC favors proposals that explain, predict, or control material performance by establishing clear underlying mechanisms that connect structure to function.

What materials are in scope for SSMC?

The program is interested in a wide span of material classes, including organic, inorganic, and hybrid materials. Examples mentioned include liquid crystals and other multi-component systems. In general, proposals can address many kinds of solids as long as they are aligned with the program's emphasis on fundamental insight.

Does SSMC support multidisciplinary research?

Yes. The program is explicitly multidisciplinary and supports studies that generate new scientific insight into relationships among structure, composition, processing, and properties in solid materials.

What kinds of synthesis or materials formation approaches does SSMC encourage?

SSMC highlights innovation in how materials are designed and made. This includes new design principles, creative synthetic routes, and improved methods for controlled solid formation such as assembly approaches, bulk crystal growth, thin-film growth, and other controlled formation pathways.

How important is characterization in SSMC proposals?

Rigorous characterization is strongly emphasized, especially when it reveals previously unknown phenomena, explains superior performance, or clarifies why a material behaves the way it does in the solid state.

What does "connecting structure to function" mean in the context of SSMC?

A major theme is understanding how structural features influence measurable properties. This can include relationships involving composition, crystallinity, defects, interfaces, and nanoscale architecture, and how those features govern behavior in the solid state.

What kinds of properties and behaviors are of interest to SSMC?

Examples described include charge transport, ionic conduction, thermal transport, spin transport, exciton diffusion, and chemical reactivity or selectivity in the solid state.

Are surfaces and interfaces within the scope of SSMC?

Yes. Studies that probe surface and interfacial effects are particularly relevant because interfaces can dominate behavior in thin films, nanostructures, composites, and layered or multi-phase materials.

Does SSMC align with NSF priorities in sustainability and energy?

Yes. The opportunity specifically encourages development of new organic solid-state materials, environmentally safer and more sustainable materials, and foundational research on materials and material systems that could enable more efficient energy harvesting, conversion, and storage.

Where is the SSMC program located within NSF?

SSMC is an NSF discretionary grant program under the Division of Materials Research (DMR) within the Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS) directorate.

Is there coordination with other NSF programs or directorates?

Yes. The description notes coordination across other programs in DMR and also with the Engineering directorate to accommodate cross-cutting proposals.

What is the Funding Opportunity Number and CFDA listing for this program?

The listing is identified as Funding Opportunity Number PD 10-1762 and CFDA 47.049.

Who is eligible to apply?

Eligibility is described as unrestricted, meaning it is broadly open to applicant entity types, subject to any specific eligibility notes that may appear in the full program text.

When were proposals historically due for SSMC?

The solicitation historically used an annual proposal window with target dates between September 1 and October 31.

Is this opportunity currently active or archived?

The archived record shows posting in August 2010 and an archive date in late 2014. In addition, the public listing shows "0" for fields like expected awards and total funding, which commonly indicates the listing is informational or archived rather than a live, currently funded competition.

What should applicants do as a practical next step if they want to pursue this area?

A typical next step is to consult the linked NSF program description for the most relevant and current guidance, and coordinate with NSF or grants.gov support if access or submission issues arise.