Interfacially Driven Self-Assembly in Multiphase Soft Matter Systems : Microstructural Transitions Triggered by Stimuli-Responsive Interfaces

理解和使用多相软物质系统（聚合物，乳液，泡沫，胶体等）的自组装和刺激响应特性是一个非常活跃的研究领域温度、pH值和光照等触发刺激可用于激发材料的显著响应：改变材料的机械和流变性能，回收或释放特定的化合物，用于传感器件和多相催化等过程工程应用。多相材料和器件的性能通常与其界面有关。该研究计划旨在开发由刺激响应界面组成的多相软物质材料。我们将：（1）开发基于光学张力测量法的方法，以测量用被动和/或刺激响应界面改性剂改性的模型系统中的界面张力、吸附期间和之后的平衡和动态界面性质以及界面粘弹性性质;（2）开发预测由多于三相组成的系统中的平衡微观结构的热力学模型，或由界面改性剂组成的非均相体系，并进行实验以验证预测;（3）将获得的知识和专门技能应用于开发刺激响应多相乳液和泡沫，其具有触发的微观结构和界面转变，用于回收领域;化学品的交付（如石油回收和药物释放）和食品科学。该计划将允许在表面和界面软物质科学和工程领域的高素质人才的培训。它将有利于化学工程和材料科学的几个活跃的研究领域：高性能复合材料，生物医学和组织工程材料的开发，多相催化应用的多相浓缩系统，食品科学等，我们希望我们的工作将导致与同事和工业合作伙伴的合作。

Understanding and using the self-assembling and stimuli-responsive properties of multiphase soft matter systems (polymers, emulsions, foams, colloids, etc.) is actually a very active field of research. Triggering stimuli such as temperature, pH, and light can be used to provoke a significant material response: alter the mechanical and rheological properties of materials, recover or liberate a particular chemical compound, for sensing devices and for applications in process engineering such as heterogeneous catalysis.The properties of heterogeneous materials and devices are often related to their interfaces. This research program aims at developing multiphase soft matter materials comprised of stimuli-responsive interfaces. We will: (1) develop methods based on optical tensiometry to measure interfacial tensions in model systems modified with passive and/or stimuli-responsive interfacial modifiers, the equilibrium and dynamic interfacial properties during and after adsorption, and the interfacial viscoelastic properties; (2) develop thermodynamic models predicting the equilibrium microstructures in systems comprised of more than three phases, or heterogeneous systems comprised of interfacial modifiers, and conduct the experiments to verify the predictions; (3) apply the acquired knowledge and know-how to the development of stimuli-responsive multiphase emulsions and foams with triggered microstructural and interfacial transitions for applications in the fields of recovery/delivery of chemicals (such as oil recovery and drug release), and food science.This program will allow the training of highly qualified personnel in the fields of surface and interfacial soft matter science and engineering. It will benefit several active research areas in chemical engineering and materials science: the development of high-performance composite materials, materials for biomedical and tissue engineering, multiphase concentrated systems for heterogeneous catalysis applications, food science, etc. We expect that our work will lead to collaborations with fellow colleagues and industrial partners.