SEMINAR

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

HIP Materials: Harnessing Interfacial Phenomena to Develop New Soft Materials

Laura Bradley

Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Abstract

Fluid interfaces are unique landscapes that offer flexibility in methods for materials synthesis and assembly. The Bradley HIP Materials Group aims to understand (i) the transport of polymers and particles to fluid interfaces, (ii) interfacial assembly, and (iii) mechanisms to dynamically manipulate assembly processes. Fundamental insight into these topics will inform new methods of bottom-up processing that merge interfacial synthesis and assembly in order to design materials with targeted structures and functions. We utilize an initiated chemical vapor deposition (iCVD) technique as our platform for interfacial polymerization; this method provides control over process conditions to tailor polymer composition and molecular weight. New opportunities have emerged from depositing polymers onto liquids. In situ control over polymer deposition provides a route to coordinate the dynamics between polymer synthesis and assembly giving rise to novel structures, including polymer nanoparticles, microstructured films, and wrinkled composites. Materials design can also be advanced by imparting functionality to interfaces through structured colloids. The HIP materials lab is inspired by recent advances in colloid science that have led to the development of responsive colloidal surfactants and hierarchical colloid assemblies. We employ heterogeneous polymerization methods to produce a broad range of anisotropic colloids for potential applications in wetting, sensing, optics, and encapsulation.

Biography

Laura Bradley completed her Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering at the University of Southern California working with Malancha Gupta and conducted her postdoctoral research with Daeyeon Lee and Kathleen Stebe at the University of Pennsylvania. She started her independent research career in 2017 as an Assistant Professor in Polymer Science and Engineering at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The Bradley research group aims to develop new strategies for merging interfacial assembly and polymer synthesis to produce soft composites with targeted structure-function properties. Members of her research group exploit fluid interfaces to produce anisotropic colloids, leverage trapped states of colloidal assemblies, and manipulate the growth of vapor-deposited thin films. Laura has received the 3M Non-Tenured Faculty Award (2018) and the NSF CAREER Award (2019).