Academic Interests
My interests are within nanoparticles and surface chemistry.
Nanoparticles include
- Preparation and properties of polymer nanoparticles by heterogeneous polymerization (emulsion and suspension polymerization).
- Applications of polymer nanoparticles in advanced systems, especially biomedical applications.
- Application of carbon nanotubes and nanofibers in advanced structural materials.
- Kinetics and mechanisms of emusion and suspension polymerization. Particle formation, particle growth, stabilizing mechanisms and adsorption.
- Synthesis and characterization of surface active and/or associating polymers.
- Conformation, nanostructure, dynamics and viscoeastic properties of associating polymers in solution. Central experimental techniques are static and dynamic light scattering, NMR-diffusion and rheology.
Surface chemistry includes
- Adhesion in polymer/polymer and composite systems. Surface midification techniques, surface analysis by contact angles, XPS, electron micrsoscopy, etc., and the mesurement of diffusion processes relevant to adhesion. The objective is understand adhesion mechanisms and to control adhesion in composite systems.
- Conformation and dynamics of monomolecular polymer films (synthetic and natural polymers) at the air/water and oil/water interface. Development and mesurements of surface elasticity by the oscillating drop technique.
- Kinetics for adsorption and phase transfer of surface active substances between water and differernt "oils" measured by axisymmetric drop shape analysis.
- Instrumentation for the measurement of interfacial tension and surface dilatational rheology by drop shape analysis (DROP Instrument).