PhD Research: Dendritic nanofluids mediating surface forces

I am a final year PhD student in the Briscoe group after working with Wuge during my final year BSc project and Master by Research (Friction between nano-structured surfaces: Amontons’ laws on the nanoscale). During my PhD, my research has focused on addressing some of the outstanding questions and challenges regarding how fluids containing nanometer-sized structures would mediate surface forces.

With several tuneable parameters such as size, shape and surface chemistry dendritic polymers (or dendrimers) offer a unique model nanofluid for investigating the effect of nanostructures on classic colloidal phenomena. In order to perform direct measurements of the surface forces mediated by such nanofluids I have helped to establish an SFA laboratory in Bristol. In addition, I have used other complementary techniques such as small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and neutron scattering (SANS), as well as X-ray reflectivity (XRR) measurements to characterise nanofluid systems both in the bulk and at the mica-water interface. Such measurements have been taken at the (ESRF; BM28; XRR), (ISIS; SANS2D and LoQ), Diamond Light Source (Didcot; I22; SAXS), and include a recent SAXS measurements at the University of Aarhus, Denmark as part of a COST fellowship with Professor Jan Skov Pedersen. In the next 6 months I intend to obtain SFA measurements across nanofluids containing PAMAM dendrimers and present my work at the IV International Surface Forces Conference near Moscow in May 2014.