Advanced Materials Stabilized by Interfacial Particles – Paul S. Clegg

Date: Thu. January 20th, 2011, 4:15 pm-5:15 pm
Location: Rockefeller 301

Emulsions, typically droplets of oil in water, are widely used in, e.g. cosmetics, paints, foods and polymer synthesis. The surface of the droplet, where the two liquids meet, is energetically expensive; to make the droplets long lived this energy cost is often reduced by adding a molecular surfactant. The focus of my research is the new physics which emerges when the molecular surfactant is replaced by colloidal particles. Because the particles are mesoscale objects they are extremely strongly trapped at the droplet interface and they also modify the average properties of the individual droplets. I will demonstrate how these characteristics lead to novel composite materials.