CAREER: Nanoscale Capillary Dynamics of Interfacial Films

University Of California-San Diego, La Jolla CA

Investigators

Abstract

****NON-TECHNICAL ABSTRACT**** This Faculty Early Career Award supports a project aiming to investigate the relationship between dynamical, mechanical, and structural properties of nanoscale-thick films. Understanding the relationship between structure and function of materials such as biological membranes and polymer films at nanometer length-scales is crucial for many disciplines ranging from condensed matter and biological physics to chemistry, biology, engineering and nanotechnology. The proposed research will utilize novel synchrotron-based x-ray scattering in combination with light scattering and microscopy techniques uniquely suited for investigations of the fundamental physics of capillary phenomena in surfactant monolayers (single layers of molecules that lower the surface tension) self-assembled at the liquid-air interface as well as the behavior of thin nanopatterned or laterally confined polymer films at a solid-air interface. This research will improve our fundamental understanding of the relationship between structure, dynamics and function of thin films and ultimately improve technologies that make use of the unique properties of thin films at nanoscale, such as the use of surfactants, nanoimprint lithography, self-assembly and flexible electronics. The educational component of this project will develop and coordinate a Young Physicist Program (YPP) - an outreach effort focusing on middle- and high-school students from the greater San Diego area. The undergraduate and graduate students involved with the project will receive scientific training at the national x-ray synchrotron sources and will learn skills that will prepare them for careers in academia as well as in industrial or government laboratories. The training will also foster a new generation of scientific users of national synchrotron facilities. ****TECHNICAL ABSTRACT**** This Faculty Early Career Award supports a project aiming to reveal questions about the physical mechanism of reversible collapse, buckling and wrinkling of surfactant monolayers self-assembled at a liquid-air interface, and providing an accurate measurement of nanoscale structure, capillary dynamics and surface energy of these films. The project will also investigate the Rayleigh instability and capillary fluctuations in laterally nanopatterned polymer films at a solid-air interface, a topic that is important for manufacturing of novel nanoscale materials, structures, and devices via a nanoimprint lithography approach. The properties of films at liquid-air and solid-air interfaces will be studied by surface-sensitive synchrotron-based x-ray scattering techniques. These measurements will be supplemented by visible light microscopy and laser scattering (Dynamic Light Scattering) measurements. Graduate and undergraduate students will play crucial roles in the project and will receive training in laboratory research, including training at the state-of-the-art synchrotron facilities at U.S. National Laboratories. Additional educational efforts will coordinate and develop a Young Physicist Program (YPP) at UC San Diego, focusing on middle- and high-school students from greater San Diego area.