Presidential Young Investigator Award: Surfactant Solution Properties and Fluid Microstructure

表面活性剂-油水乳液、聚合物 溶液和凝胶、生物膜和其他结构化流体 密切依赖于它们通常独特的微观结构。冷冻断裂 复制透射电子显微镜（FFRTEM）提供了最 详细而直观的三维空间组织 在任何液体系统中。 例如，FFRTEM另有规定- 关于网络结构含水聚合物凝胶的信息不可用， 使得将网络结构中的变化与化学反应联系起来成为可能。 和机械治疗。 该项目将研究阶段变化， 聚丙烯酰胺水凝胶的临界波动;这种波动 从未被可视化过。 的棒-卷转变 导电聚合物和由此产生的凝胶形成 还将用FFRTEM检查过渡情况。 的第二区域 感兴趣是溶液中的表面活性剂微结构。 FFRTEM提供了 胶束在浓缩的表面活性剂-水混合物中的唯一观点， 是观察生物和合成双层膜的最佳探针。

The macroscopic properties of surfactant-oil water emulsion, polymer solutions and gels, biological membranes and other structured fluids depend intimately on their often unique microstructure. Freeze-fracture replication transmission electron microscopy (FFRTEM) provides the most detailed and direct view of the three-dimensional spatial organization in any liquid system. For example, FFRTEM provides otherwise- unavailable information on the network structure aqueous polymer gels, making it possible to relate changes in network structure to chemical and mechanical treatments. This project will examine phase changes and critical fluctuations in aqueous polyacrylamide gels; such fluctuations have never before been visualized. The rod-coil transition of conducting polymers and the gel formation that results from this transition will also be examined with FFRTEM. A second area of interest is surfactant microstructure in solution. FFRTEM has provided the only view of micelles in concentrated surfactant-water mixtures and is the best probe for visualizing biological and synthetic bilayers.