Fundamental theoretical and experimental studies of soft matter and their composites

这项研究旨在了解和控制在含有纳米颗粒，聚合物和磷脂的软材料中产生复杂反应的物理相互作用。该研究结合了最先进的实验工具-包括激光全息显微流变学和电声学-和理论，使加拿大能源和医疗保健企业受益。加拿大的潜在好处是提高能源效率（例如，通过优化用于石油化工加工中的气体分离的纳米复合膜）和改善人类健康（例如，通过了解NP在生物膜中的运输来治疗癌症和呼吸系统疾病，并开发用于临床诊断和植入的软材料）。知识将从四个子主题中获得：首先，我们将寻求对生物膜中纳米颗粒动力学的基本理解，特别是生物膜粘性如何影响纳米颗粒运输。这将有助于合成和临床领域的研究人员优化用于癌症和呼吸系统疾病治疗和肿瘤检测的纳米颗粒尺寸和化学。在第二，我们将进行新的研究磷脂双层膜支持和水凝胶内。我们的目标是将膜包埋的蛋白质和聚合物的运动与水凝胶的化学性质、渗透性和柔软性相关联。这项研究可能会导致新的控制释放药物输送疗法和传感器。在第三个实验中，我们将用纳米粒子修饰水凝胶，使其在电场作用下具有改变形状的能力。这种材料在专门的医学诊断应用中可能与肌肉组织类似地起作用。最后，我们将阐明纳米颗粒如何影响纳米复合材料中的聚合物链堆积，并建立一个标准，用于选择纳米颗粒尺寸和聚合物链刚度，以优化膜的渗透性和选择性，用于石油化工行业中的节能气体分离。

This research seeks to understand and control the physical interactions that produce complex responses in soft materials containing nanoparticles, polymers, and phospholipids. The research combines state-of-the-art experimental tools---including laser holographic microrheology and electroacoustics---and theory to benefit the Canadian energy and healthcare enterprises. The potential benefits for Canada are improved energy efficiency (e.g., by optimizing nanocomposite membranes for gas separations in petrochemical processing) and improved human health (e.g., by understanding NP transport in biofilms for treating cancer and respiratory disease, and developing soft materials for clinical diagnostics and implants). Knowledge will be gained from four sub-themes: In the first, we will seek a fundamental understanding of nanoparticle dynamics in biofilms, particularly how biofilm stickiness affects nanoparticle transport. This will help researchers in synthetic and clinical areas optimize nanoparticle size and chemistry for cancer and respiratory disease therapeutics and tumor detection. In the second, we will undertake novel studies of phospholipid bilayer membranes supported on and within hydrogels. Our goal is to correlate the motion of membrane-embedded proteins and polymers to the hydrogel chemistry, permeability, and softness. This research may lead to new controlled release drug-delivery therapeutics and sensors. In the third, we will decorate hydrogels with nanoparticles to impart an ability to change shape when subjected to an electric field. Such materials might function similarly to muscle tissue in specialized medical diagnostic applications. Finally, we will elucidate how nanoparticles influence polymer-chain packing in nanocomposites, and establish a criterion for selecting nanoparticle size and polymer chain stiffness to optimize membrane permeability and selectivity for energy-efficient gas separations in the petrochemicals industry.