CAREER: Expanding the Science of Complex Fluids to the Solid State

CBET-0744650卡洛斯·C·库辛辛那提表面活性剂与水和油的复杂流体混合物自组装形成了丰富多样的纳米结构，在许多化学和材料工程领域发现了重要的应用。在过去的三年里，PI的实验室率先研究了一种全新的无水复杂流体，由形成固体复杂玻璃的表面活性剂、油和糖组成。这些糖基复杂玻璃的坚固的纳米结构，以及它们随后可以很容易地溶解在水中，使它们作为模板非常有用，用于制备具有广泛实际应用的棒状、片状和双连续纳米材料。热力学驱动的疏水化合物在复合玻璃中的自发混合也为直接包裹油和保存药物和蛋白质开辟了新的途径。这项旨在了解糖基复杂玻璃中玻璃形成的拟议工作的结果，将为从非水复杂流体中形成玻璃的更广泛的职业生涯定义研究计划奠定基础，例如，熔融盐和低熔点金属合金将磁性、电子和催化特性与复杂流体的丰富纳米结构相结合。在玻璃与复杂流体的交汇处，新的科学和令人兴奋的应用正在等待着人们的发现。这份职业计划寻求的支持将促进建立复杂流体中玻璃形成的基本原则。一系列初步结果证明了玻璃在复杂流体中的形成以及拟议研究的可行性。它们包括：(1)相行为表征；(2)玻璃转变的调制差示扫描量热法测量；(3)电子显微镜；(4)微结构长度尺度的小角散射测量；(5)微结构拓扑/连通性的磁共振成像和自扩散测量；以及(6)熔融状态下复杂玻璃的流变性表征。为了证明这些复合玻璃的实用价值，PI提供了两个具体应用的初步结果：(1)环境友好、无溶剂的聚二乙烯苯膜的制备；(2)高效、自发地将橙油的主要成分50vol%柠檬烯包裹在可食用固体微乳液玻璃中。更广泛的影响：这里提出的教育目标进一步整合了PI的研究专业知识，领导了一项课程改革努力，将植根于分子水平的产品设计提升到与植物设计中的典型化学工程顶石课程相同的水平。为了将在一系列新的试点课程中教授的概念结合在一起，国际洗涤剂协会将开发一个关于洗涤剂的通用案例研究，将胶体和界面现象、聚合物、无机化学、酶催化、胶囊化、粉末加工以及更广泛的生态和知识产权考虑的知识结合在一起。其他学术机构将通过WWW访问讲座和实验室模块，而PI将向K12学生和教师提供简化的技术。PI将通过强制性的年度合作教育周期，评估这一课程改革努力的有效性，这一努力将在两个平行的本科生部门分阶段实施。学生、教师和行业评估将用于微调课程内容，并检验人们普遍认为的一种信念，即随着传统工程职能和生产转移到海外，创新产品设计已成为国内化学工程师的必备技能。

CBET- 0744650Carlos C. CoU. Cincinnati Complex fluid mixtures of surfactants with water and oil self-assemble to form a rich variety of nanostructures that have found important applications in many areas of chemical and materials engineering. Over the past three years, the PI's laboratory has pioneered investigations of a completely new class of anhydrous complex fluids, comprising of surfactant, oil, and sugar that form solid complex glasses. The robust nanostructure of these sugar-based complex glasses, and the ease with which they can be dissolved afterwards in water, make them eminently useful as templates for the preparation of rod-like, sheet-like, and bicontinuous nanomaterials with wide ranging practical applications. The thermodynamically driven spontaneous mixing of hydrophobic compounds in complex glasses also opens new avenues for direct encapsulation of oils and preservation of pharmaceuticals and proteins. Results from the proposed work to understand glass formation in sugar-based complex glasses will establish the foundation for a broader career-defining research program in glass formation from non-aqueous complex fluids including for example, molten salts and low melting point metal alloys that combine magnetic, electronic, and catalytic properties with the rich nanostructures of complex fluids. New science and exciting applications await discovery at the intersection of glasses with complex fluids. This CAREER proposal seeks support that will catalyze efforts towards establishing the fundamental principles underlying glass formation in complex fluids. An array of preliminary results demonstrates glass formation in complex fluids and the feasibility of the proposed studies. These include: (1) phase behavior characterization; (2) modulated differential scanning calorimetry measurements of the glass transition; (3) electron microscopy; (4) small angle scattering measurements of microstructural length scales; (5) magnetic resonance imaging and self-diffusion measurements of microstructural topology/connectivity; and (6) rheological characterization of the complex glasses in their molten state. To demonstrate the practical utility of these complex glasses, the PI presents preliminary results for two specific applications: (1) environmentally friendly, solvent-free preparation of polydivinylbenzene membranes, and (2) high-efficiency, spontaneous encapsulation of 50 vol% limonene, the principal component of orange oil, in an edible solid microemulsion glass. Broader Impact: The educational objective proposed here further integrates the PI's research expertise to lead a curriculum reform effort that elevates product design, rooted at the molecular-level, to the same level as the archetypal Chemical Engineering capstone course in plant design. To bring together concepts taught in a sequence of new pilot courses, the PI will develop a common case study on laundry detergents, which ties together knowledge of colloids and interfacial phenomena, polymers, inorganic chemistry, enzyme catalysis, encapsulation, powder processing, and broader ecological and intellectual property considerations. Other academic institutions will access lecture and laboratory modules through the WWW and the PI will make a technically simplified available to K12 students and teachers. The PI will assess the effectiveness of this curriculum reform effort, which will be implemented in stages on two parallel undergraduate sections, through a mandatory annual cooperative education cycle. Student, faculty, and industrial evaluations will be used to fine-tune the course content and test the commonly held belief that innovative product design has become a necessary skill for domestic chemical engineers as traditional engineering functions and production are transferred overseas.