Our lab is focused on complex fluids, colloids, and interfacial science, all of which are materials or phenomena profoundly relevant to coatings, food, chemical products, and batteries. The approach our lab takes bridges fundamental science to applied technology, seeking to develop new knowledge facilitated through novel experiments and theoretical tools. The common thread through our projects is material systems comprised of nano- to micrometer scale ‘colloidal’ particles that are anisotropic, away from equilibrium, or in crowded environments.
Research Information
Research Interests
Non-Equilibrium and Dense Suspensions of Anisotropic Colloids
Fluids containing nano- to micrometer scale “colloidal” particles are found universally in nature and technology. Coatings, consumer products, filters, cosmetics, food, pharmaceuticals, and numerous industrial chemical processes all incorporate colloids. Although these applications are mature, there is a significant number of important questions that remain for these and next generation technologies that utilize colloids.
Our lab is particularly focused on colloids that are anisotropic, away from equilibrium, or in crowded environments, all of which are relevant to coatings, the production of multiphase materials, and the understanding of synthetic and biological active colloids. Our lab develops fundamental understanding for the fabrication, processing, probing, and utilization of these materials for use in applications.
Our tools are primarily in the measurement, prediction, and interpretation of the dynamic behavior of colloidal particles in response to neighbors, nearby surfaces, physiochemical or hydrodynamic cures. Our focus has been on anisotropic (e.g. non-spherical, non-uniform surface chemistry) particles because of the technological relevance of such particles, including clay, yeast, red blood cells, and carbon nanoparticles. We often study these systems away from equilibrium, for instance in response to an external electric field. More recently, we moved towards non-equilibrium active colloidal system where motion is generated by the particle itself. We further extended this focus on non-equilibrium behavior in complex fluids to dynamic systems