The Colloidal Domain
Colloids are ubiquitous: blood, milk, laundry detergent, nanomaterials, ice cream, clouds, cell membranes, and drilling fluids represent just a small selection of colloidal systems. A colloid is any material that contains a second, finely divided, material, where “finely divided” means having one dimension that is between ~ 10 and 1000 nanometers – this is the “Colloidal Domain!" Our lab is broadly interested in non-equilibrium and dense suspensions of colloids, particularly those that are ‘anisotropic’ with non-spherical shape or non-uniform surface chemistry. Within this broad area, we have three thrusts, including:
Complex Colloidal Particles near Boundaries: Many colloidal particles relevant to applications are anisotropic, with non-uniform shape or surface chemistry, and often interact with boundaries in unique ways. Interactions and dynamics relevant to these systems are often important to these applications and offer pathways to complex assemblies. In response to these challenges and opportunities, our lab has focused on developing experimental, computational, and theoretical techniques for the measurement and interpretation of the dynamics and interactions of anisotropic colloidal particles near a boundary.
Materials Important to Energy Applications: Long duration storage of energy has become a global priority as we move away from carbon intensive energy sources and towards sustainable, but intermittent, sources such as solar and wind. There are many strategies for long duration energy storage, with flow battery technology one of the leading candidates. Flow batteries have several advantages such as modular design, moderate cost of operation and maintenance, and the decoupling of capacity from power. Significant challenges remain with the formulation of certain flow battery chemistries, including stability and flowability of the complex fluid. Our recent work has focused on measuring the stability, rheological response, and electrical properties of complex fluids relevant to flow batteries.
Sustainable Manufacturing of Coatings: Coatings are ubiquitous chemical products important to applications from automobiles to packaging. Following the application stage of a coating, rapid evaporation of solvent during the ‘flash’ stage induces both changes in rheology and flow fields that can produce a zoology of defects. Such defects are not only problematic for the aesthetics of the coating, but defects will also create deficiencies in mechanical, optical, and barrier properties. Our lab has worked to apply existing tools and develop new techniques that elucidate fundamental understanding of the drying process, with a particular focus on defect formation, and more recently has studied how formulation choices guided by sustainability influence performance of these chemical products.
Past Presentations
(30 min) Beer, wine, and Bourbon: Adventures in Flatland and Why Interfacial Science Matters. Science Cafe, August 2022
(13 min) Three-Dimensional Technique of Measuring Sag in Drying Coatings. AIChE Annual Meeting, November 2021
(16 min) DLVO Energy Landscape of a Janus Particle Near a Boundary. AIChE Annual Meeting, November 2021
(30 min) Influence of Nanoparticles on the Dynamics and Clustering of Active Colloids Proximate to a Boundary. First Global Symposium on Janus Particles, October 2020
(13 min) Towards Total Internal Reflection Microscopy of Non-Spherical Particles. AIChE Annual Meeting, November 2020
(26 min) Everyday Nano: Fun with Complex Fluids. Virtual Engineers Week Carnival Activities, February 2021