Acquisition of Equipment for Molecular Interfacial Research and Education

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9975780GenzerThis award will provide partial support for the acquisition of: (i) a variable angle spectroscopic ellipsometer (VASE); (ii) a dynamic contact angle (DCA) system; and (iii) an interfacial rheometer (IFR). These instruments will provide important new capabilities for investigating adsorption of self-assembling organic molecules at solid/liquid and liquid/liquid interfaces and their organization in thin film geometries. Understanding the physics and chemistry of adsortive and organizational events at interfaces is essential in their subsequent technological application, ranging from biological modifiers to molecular semiconductors. This equipment will also play a major role in training both undergraduate and graduate students at the Department of Chemical Engineering at North Carolina State University in new hands-on laboratory courses in interfacial science. These new capabilities would provide crucial information for the growing interdisciplinary research program in polymer and surfactant interfacial science, electronic materials, and environmental science at North Carolina State University and enable it to remain strong and vital in the years ahead.%%%This equipment will significantly enhance capabilities to understand interface phenomena of organic molecules, and to train students in several interdisciplinary areas.***