ERI: Reconfigurable Highly-Ordered Microlayers Between Liquid Interfaces

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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.