tl;dr: In Dr. Kiril Streletzky’s lab I analyzed experimental microgel data to study their temperature-dependent volume phase transition. With Dr. Miron Kaufman, I studied a new statistical mechanical model that explicitly accounts for polymeric crosslinking.

The Story:

At my undergraduate institute, Cleveland State University (CSU) I took interest in the physics of microgels. I am interested in the thermodynamics of microgels, and the mechanics of their crosslinking. I started research in this area once I joined in Fall 2017 and gained more experience in the soft-matter Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) at CSU.

Specifically, Dr. Streletzky’s (website) lab used dynamic light scattering (DLS) to study the shape of hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC) microgels in suspension. I learned to analyze optical data and extract physical parameters (size vs. temperature) and intrinsic thermodynamic properties from Flory-Huggins (FH) theory.

Under the supervision of Dr. Miron Kaufman, I undertook a study of the statistical mechanics of crosslinked microgels. This analysis was based on work motivated by the crosslinker dependency that was experimentally observed in Dr. Kiril Streletzky’s lab.

The Results:

  • CSU and Kent State poster sessions 1, as a part of the soft-matter REU cohort.
  • Presented several other posters, including: 2019 APS March Meeting (2, 3).
  • Published paper in Macromolecules (2020).

The Details:

  • HPC Microgels
  • Flory-Rehner / Flory-Huggins theory
  • Crosslink density

Future Work:

  • The mystery of the different crosslinking density regimes is still being investigated!