RUI: Polymer Nanocomposite Surface Modification and Characterization for Microfluidic Applications

杂化聚合物-无机材料代表了聚合物材料领域的重要发展，这是由于能够利用不同的化学组成和无机组分的百分比来定制这些材料的物理性质。本科院校研究（RUI）过渡补助金将解决两个主要的智力价值领域。主要领域是表面改性的多面体低聚倍半硅氧烷（POSS）-共聚物材料暴露于等离子体和化学环境时的物理化学性质的基础研究。这些材料将被研究，因为它们提供了控制或改变应用于聚合物微流体（“芯片实验室”）设备的涂层表面特性的可能性。 材料特性将使用表面分析技术的组合进行研究，包括X射线光电子能谱（XPS），原子和横向力显微镜（AFM/LFM），扫描电子显微镜（SEM），可变角光谱椭圆偏振仪（VASE），红外光谱和接触角测量。与本科生的工作将集中在一个为期十周的夏季计划完成AFM和XPS研究开始与NSF-RUI #0405345。第二个主要的夏季项目是进一步开发一种快速原型技术，使用我们实验室正在开发的聚甲基丙烯酸甲酯（PMMA）微芯片的光聚合。这种新技术允许原位制造埋层结构，共聚以产生基于POSS的衬底和用于微流体应用的多层3D器件架构。本项目中测试的设备设计和规格将与弗吉尼亚大学化学系的James Landers博士的微流体小组合作开发。器械试验将包括POSS处理器械的电渗流（EVOF）和非本征法布里-珀罗干涉法（EFPI）测量。该项目涉及生物医学设备的重要技术领域，更具体地说，是“芯片实验室”微流体设备。改进的表面和涂层材料的开发对于这些设备的商业化至关重要，其应用包括法医学和即时医疗诊断。除了本项目的技术目标，最终目标是在高度跨学科的研究环境中对本科研究生进行科学培训。该项目将涉及三名本科生研究人员在材料科学问题的聚合物和表面的结构-性能关系的培训。这些学生将接触到表面分析技术，真空科学，微细加工，聚合物材料表征和加工，以及微流体技术和科学。该计划的参与者还将通过直接的实验室合作与UVa着陆器实验室的研究生和博士后研究人员进行互动，以便更好地欣赏主要研究机构的研究。这些活动有助于广泛影响未来科学家从本科生到研究生的管道。

Hybrid polymer-inorganic materials represent an important development in the polymer materials field due to the ability to tailor the physical properties of these materials with varying chemical composition and percentage of the inorganic component. This Research at Undergraduate Institutions (RUI) transition grant will address two main areas of intellectual merit. The primary area is a fundamental study of the physico-chemical properties of surface modified polyhedral oligomeric silsequioxane (POSS)-copolymer materials when exposed to plasma and chemical environments. These materials will be studied as they offer the possibility of controlling or changing the surface properties of coatings applied to polymer microfluidic ("lab-on-a-chip") devices. Materials properties will be studied using a combination of surface analysis techniques including x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), atomic and lateral force microscopy (AFM/LFM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), variable angle spectroscopic ellipsometry (VASE), infrared spectroscopy and contact angle measurements. Work with undergraduates will be centered for a ten week summer program on completing AFM and XPS studies commenced with NSF-RUI #0405345. The second major summer project is to further develop a rapid prototyping technique using photopolymerization of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) microchips being developed in our lab. This novel technique allows for the in-situ fabrication of buried layer structures, copolymerization to produce POSS based substrates and multi-layer 3D device architectures for microfluidic applications. Device designs and specifications tested in this project will be developed in collaboration with Dr. James Landers' microfluidics group at the University of Virginia in the Department of Chemistry. Device testing will include electroosmotic flow (EOF) of POSS-treated devices and extrinsic Fabry-Perot interferometry (EFPI) measurements. This project addresses the technologically important field of biomedical devices and more specifically "lab-on-a-chip" microfluidic devices. The development of improved surface and coating materials is critical for the commercialization of these devices with applications including forensics and point-of-care medical diagnostics. In addition to the technical objectives of this project, a final objective is the scientific training of undergraduate research students in a highly interdisciplinary research environment. This project will involve the training of three undergraduate researchers in the materials science issues of structure-property relationships of polymers and surfaces. These students will be exposed to surface analytical techniques, vacuum science, microfabrication, polymer materials characterization and processing, and microfluidic technology and science. The participants in this program will also interact with graduate students and post-doctoral researchers in the Lander's lab at UVa through direct laboratory collaboration in order to better appreciate research at a major research institution. These activities help serve to broadly impact the pipeline of future scientists from undergraduates to the graduate level.