ERI: Reconfigurable Highly-Ordered Microlayers Between Liquid Interfaces

ERI：液体界面之间的可重构高度有序微层

• 批准号: 2301605
• 负责人: Zahra Niroobakhsh
• 金额: $ 20万
• 依托单位: University of Missouri-Kansas City
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-06-01 至 2025-05-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2301605&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: ERI; Reconfigurable; Highly; Ordered; Microlayers

Creating semi-solid structures between water-oil interfaces is critical in many fields, including drug delivery, tissue bio-mimicking, and energy applications. Amphiphiles, comprising water-loving and water-hating parts, could be used to construct organized microlayers between liquid-liquid interfaces. The interfacial microlayer in such systems forms instantaneously at the interface yet continues to grow gradually, making it challenging to create a well-controlled thickness at the interface. The current award aims to address this challenge by investigating and understanding the underlying mechanisms that control interface growth and dynamics experimentally. The interdisciplinary nature of this award will provide opportunities to develop undergraduate and graduate curriculum, design educational outreach activities for the general public, and expose high school students with STEM subjects.Stabilizing oil-water interfaces to create hierarchical functional structures between fluidic interfaces has been a significant area of study in various material sciences and engineering fields. However, stabilizing and structuring fluidic interfaces by surfactant self-assembly has not been extensively explored. Creating a smart complex is advantageous and unique compared to the other relevant systems and can revolutionize many fields. First, surfactants are inexpensive and commercially available; thus, no special and time-consuming synthesis is needed. Furthermore, no other “all-liquid systems” can create meso-architectural morphologies, such as lamellar or hexagonal, except surfactant self-assembled systems. This award aims to investigate an aqueous surfactant system with oil cosurfactant to 1) identify spontaneous emulsification mechanism and control its kinetics rate; 2) control the microlayer growth and tune its viscoelasticity; 3) to integrate associative components to create reconfigurable interfaces, and 4) enhance the accessibility of STEM education for local underprivileged high school students. To accomplish these goals, experimental methods including interfacial tension measurement, shear and dilatational rheology, and microscopies will be utilized.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

在水-油界面之间产生半固体结构在许多领域中是至关重要的，包括药物递送、组织生物模拟和能源应用。两亲分子由亲水和憎水两部分组成，可用于在液-液界面之间构建有序的微层。这种系统中的界面微层在界面处瞬间形成，但继续逐渐生长，使得在界面处产生良好控制的厚度具有挑战性。目前的奖项旨在通过调查和理解控制界面生长和动力学实验的基本机制来应对这一挑战。该奖项的跨学科性质将为开发本科生和研究生课程提供机会，为公众设计教育推广活动，并让高中生接触STEM科目。稳定油水界面以在流体界面之间创建分层功能结构一直是各种材料科学和工程领域的重要研究领域。然而，通过表面活性剂自组装来稳定和结构化流体界面尚未被广泛探索。与其他相关系统相比，创建智能综合体具有优势和独特性，可以彻底改变许多领域。首先，表面活性剂价格便宜，可商购获得;因此，不需要特殊和耗时的合成。此外，除了表面活性剂自组装体系之外，没有其他“全液体体系”可以产生介观结构形态，例如层状或六边形。该奖项旨在研究含有油助表面活性剂的水性表面活性剂体系，以1）确定自发乳化机制并控制其动力学速率; 2）控制微层生长并调节其粘弹性; 3）整合相关组件以创建可重构界面，以及4）提高当地贫困高中生接受STEM教育的可及性。为了实现这些目标，实验方法，包括界面张力测量，剪切和流变学，显微镜将被利用。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。