Polyelectrolyte Transport in Nanoporous Matrices

从纳米升DNA样品在微型装置中的分馏到合成聚合物注入巨型油藏，通过纳米多孔基质的DNA运输存在于广泛的长度尺度和各种化学过程中。聚电解质是其重复单元在水性环境中带有几个电荷的聚合物。许多生物分子，如多肽（蛋白质）和DNA是聚电解质。合成的聚电解质用于广泛的技术和工业领域，如提高石油采收率。然而，大多数关于通过纳米多孔基质的电子输运的先前工作已经在简单和特定的实验条件下用很少的组分完成，因此缺乏实际的复杂性。拟议的研究计划的重点是了解迁移机制和量化传输参数，如流动性，扩散和分散在广泛的操作条件下，使用不同的实验和数值技术。拟议研究的目标是：i）开发、设计和制造微/纳流体装置作为研究微流体传输的实验平台，重点是探索能够承受大多数能源生产相关过程中存在的恶劣操作条件的设计和材料，和ii）提取和开发广义函数和非尺寸参数来预测和随后控制在不同操作条件下聚电解质的迁移率和分散。

From the fractionation of nanolitre DNA samples in micro devices to the injection of synthetic polymers into giant oil reservoirs, polyelectrolyte transport through nanoporous matrices is present in a wide range of length scales and a variety of chemical processes. Polyelectrolytes are polymers whose repeating units bear several charges in aqueous environments. Many biological molecules such as polypeptides (proteins) and DNA are polyelectrolytes. Synthesized polyelectrolytes are used in a wide range of technological and industrial fields such as enhanced oil recovery. However, most of the prior work on polyelectrolyte transport through nanoporous matrices has been done under simple and specific experimental conditions with few components, and thus lacks practical complexities. The proposed research program focuses on understanding polyelectrolyte migration mechanisms and quantifying transport parameters such as mobility, diffusion, and dispersion under a wide range of operational conditions using different experimental and numerical techniques. The objectives of the proposed research are: i) to develop, design, and fabricate micro/nanofluidic devices as an experimental platform to study polyelectrolyte transport with a focus on exploring designs and materials that can endure hostile operational conditions present in most energy production related processes, and ii) to extract and develop generalized functions and non-dimensional parameters to predict and subsequently control the mobility and dispersion of polyelectrolytes under different operational conditions.