Fundamental and Applied Aspects of Miniemulsions

微型乳液是一类特殊的乳液（通常是亚微观油滴在水中的分散），它可以制备传统工业乳液技术无法制备的材料（聚合物、复合材料、封装颗粒等）。这些材料的应用范围从平凡但重要的（例如粘合剂和涂料）到奇异的（例如生物医学和光电子设备）。然而，由于观察这种小尺寸物种（通常在纳米尺寸范围内）的困难，一直缺乏对这些微型乳液如何转化为最终产品的理解的关键方面；通常的测量方法仅仅因为试图测量它们的行为而干扰了物种的大小。解决这一困境（其中一些涉及最近开发的技术）及其应用将在本研究的基础方面进行探讨。将探讨微乳液在制备新材料中的应用，重点是独特的光子器件。本研究将利用微型乳液的特殊能力来控制材料的各种性能（包括尺寸、成分、表面性能）。广泛的影响这项基础性工作预计将对应用微乳液技术开发独特材料的能力产生直接和实质性的影响，无论是在里海的这项工作中，还是在其他方面，特别是在工业领域。作为水基系统，它们可以在涂料和粘合剂等大量应用中促进环境责任。小批量、高价值的材料被设想用于药物输送、医疗诊断、光子学和光电子学。将确保迅速传播调查结果；每年向乳液聚合物协会工业联络计划的成员公司发表的报告，以及为工业研究科学家和工程师设计的短期课程（乳液聚合和乳胶技术的进展；在里海和海外）的讲座，除了预期在国际会议上的报告和在著名期刊上的出版物外，还将包括重要的发现。

ResearchMiniemulsions are a special class of emulsion (typically a dispersion of submicroscopic droplets of oil in water), which allow the preparation of materials (polymers, composites, encapsulated particles, etc.) that can not be made by the conventional industrial emulsion techniques. These materials can have applications ranging from the mundane but important (e.g., adhesives and coatings) to the exotic (e.g., biomedical and optoelectronic devices). However, a crucial aspect of the understanding of how these miniemulsions are transformed into the final products has been lacking because of the difficulty in observing such small size species (often in the nanosize range); the usual measurement methods disturb the size of the species simply by the act of trying to measure them. Solutions to this dilemma (some involving recently developed technology) and their application will be explored in the fundamental aspect of this research.The application of miniemulsions to the preparation of new materials will be explored with some emphasis on unique photonic devices. The special ability of miniemulsions to control various properties of the materials (including size, composition, surface properties) will be exploited in this research.Broad ImpactThe fundamental work is expected to have a direct and substantial impact on the ability to apply miniemulsion technology to the development of unique materials both in this work at Lehigh and for others, particularly in industry. As water-based systems, they can promote environmental responsibility in large volume applications such as coatings and adhesives. Small-volume, high-value materials are envisioned in drug delivery, medical diagnostics, and photonics and optoelectronics. The rapid dissemination of the results will be ensured; annual presentations to members companies of the Emulsion Polymers Institute's Industrial Liaison Program, as well as lectures at short courses (Advances in Emulsion Polymerization and Latex Technology; at Lehigh and overseas) designed for industrial research scientists and engineers will include significant findings, in addition to the expected presentations at international meetings and publications in prominent journals.