Career Program: Co-Adsorption and its Ramifications in Mixtures of Surfactants and Water-Soluble Polymers

小行星9623849 这个教师早期职业发展补助金是建立创新和工业相关的教育和研究计划。 该研究计划旨在帮助提供吸附现象的分子水平的理解，这是必要的界面特性的合理控制，这反过来又控制许多复杂的流体配方的宏观性能。 该研究的重点是在聚合物和小的表面活性分子的共吸附过程中发生的竞争和协同相互作用的知之甚少，但至关重要的影响。 在化学、材料、制药、环境和生物材料行业的技术中，吸附现象是无数复杂流体配方成功或失败的原因。 目前，大多数基础吸附研究考虑单组分溶液，而工业相关流体通常含有各种具有广泛变化的分子量、溶解度和表面亲和力的表面活性材料。 在这些情况下，各种物质之间的竞争和协同效应控制了吸附层的组成和结构，进而控制了流体的宏观性质及其与表面的相互作用。 选择一些例子，共吸附现象对于喷墨印刷和汽车面漆的外观是至关重要的。 在个人护理产品行业，药用乳液和皮肤及头发护理在很大程度上依赖于表面活性剂和聚合物的共吸附。 食品的稳定性、制药生产中的分离过程以及有毒废物场地的表面活性剂强化修复是其他主要应用。 本研究旨在提高工业相关的多组分系统中的聚合物吸附的理解，它跨越了基本的共吸附机理的基础研究和共吸附的实际后果之间的差距。 因此，其中一个拟议项目将与工业科学家合作进行。 具体项目包括调查共吸附对聚合物/表面活性剂混合物中的胶体力和胶体稳定性的影响;以及在天然存在的大分子存在的情况下，对共吸附在碳氢化合物污染土壤的表面活性剂强化补救中的作用进行模型研究。 该教育计划将产生新颖的学习工具和方法，以帮助学生提高他们的技术和学习技能，创造力，对化学工程科学进步的认识，以及对全球工作场所的认识。 教育计划的目标将通过三项举措实现。 主要研究者（P.I.）将开发基于用户友好的计算机应用程序的创造性，自定进度的学习工具，即使是最胆小的学生也可以彻底探索工程学科的细微差别。 PI将开发一门新课程和几个新的教育实验室实验，将胶体和界面科学的现代研究纳入本科生和研究生的课程。 最后，PI将为高级研究生组织一个国际交流计划，让他们在地球仪的领先胶体和界面科学实验室度过一段时间。 访问学生也将在PIOs实验室接待。 ***

9623849 Tilton This Faculty Early Career Development grant is to establish innovative and industrially relevant educational and research programs. The research plan is designed to help provide the molecular level understanding of adsorption phenomena that is necessary for rationale control of interfacial properties, which in turn control the macroscopic properties of many complex fluid formulations. The research focuses on the poorly understood but crucial effects of competitive and synergistic interactions that occur during co-adsorption of polymers and small surface active molecules. Adsorption phenomena are responsible for the success or failure of innumerable complex fluid formulations in technologies spanning the chemical, materials, pharmaceuticals, environmental, and biomaterials industries. Currently, most fundamental adsorption studies consider single component solutions, while industrially relevant fluids commonly contain a variety of surface active materials with widely varying molecular weight, solubility, and surface affinity. In these cases, competitive and synergistic effects between the various species control the composition and structure of the adsorbed layers that in turn control macroscopic properties of the fluid and its interactions with surfaces. To select some examples, co-adsorption phenomena are critical for ink-jet printing and the appearance of automobile finishes. In the personal care products business, medicinal lotions and skin and hair treatments depend heavily on co-adsorption of surfactants and polymers. Stability of food products, separation processes in pharmaceutical production, and surfactant-enhanced remediation of toxic waste sites are other major applications. This research is intended to elevate the understanding of polymer adsorption in industrially relevant multicomponent systems, and it spans the gap between fundamental studies of basic co-adsorption mechanisms and the practical consequences of co-adsorption. Accordingly, one of the proposed projects will be conducted in collaboration with industrial scientists. Specific projects included investigation of the effect of co-adsorption on colloidal forces and colloidal stability in polymer/surfactant mixtures; and a model study of the role of co-adsorption in surfactant-enhanced remediation of hydrocarbon contaminated soils in the presence of naturally occurring macromolecules. The educational program will produce novel learning tools and ways to help students improve their technical and learning skills, creativity, awareness of scientific advances in chemical engineering, and a sense of the global workplace. The goals of the educational program will be met by three initiatives. The principal investigator (P.I.) will develop creative, self-paced learning tools based on user friendly computer applications that allow even the most timid students to thoroughly explore nuances of engineering subjects. The PI will develop a new course and several new educational lab experiments that incorporate modern research in colloid and interface science into the curriculum for both undergraduate and graduate students. Finally, the PI will organize an international exchange program for advanced graduate students to spend time in leading colloid and interface science labs around the globe. Visiting students will also be hosted in the PIOs laboratory. ***