Fundamental theoretical and experimental studies of soft matter and their composites

这项研究试图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。这项研究结合了最先进的实验工具-包括激光全息微观流变学和电声学-以及理论，使加拿大能源和医疗保健企业受益。对加拿大的潜在好处是提高能源效率(例如，通过优化石油化工过程中气体分离的纳米复合膜)和改善人类健康(例如，通过了解NP在生物膜中的传输用于治疗癌症和呼吸系统疾病，以及开发用于临床诊断和植入的软材料)。知识将从四个分主题中获得：在第一个主题中，我们将寻求对生物膜中纳米颗粒动力学的基本了解，特别是生物膜粘性如何影响纳米颗粒的传输。这将帮助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成分。在第二部分中，我们将对水凝胶上和水凝胶内支撑的磷脂双层膜进行新的研究。我们的目标是将膜包埋蛋白质和聚合物的运动与水凝胶的化学成分、渗透性和柔软性联系起来。这项研究可能导致新的控释药物释放疗法和传感器。在第三个实验中，我们将用纳米颗粒装饰水凝胶，使其具有在电场作用下改变形状的能力。在专门的医疗诊断应用中，这种材料的功能可能类似于肌肉组织。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，并建立选择纳米颗粒尺寸和聚合物链刚性的标准，以优化石化行业高效气体分离的膜透过率和选择性。

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.