Research Projects

synergistic interactions between oppositely charged surfactants in aqueous solutions can form double-chained catanionic amphiphiles, allowing for the creation of various cell-imimetic structures like hydrogels, vesicles, and coacervates. Coacervates, a new-age microreactor, are created from the delicate balancing between oppositely charged amphiphiles or surfactants. Coacervation is a phenomenon of liquid-liquid phase separation in the solution, and it is a low-cost membrane-free microreactor or cell-mimetic system that can pre-concentrate various solubizates, including metal ions, dyes, drugs, and biomolecules. However, research on coacervates is limited, with systematic investigations of structural, thermodynamic, and kinetic aspects and their application possibilities not being thoroughly investigated. This project aims to conduct physicochemical studies on coacervates' phase behavior and other solution behaviors using surface tension, conductance, spectrophotometry, dynamic light scattering, and zeta potential measurements. The study will also investigate the formation, stability, phase behavior, hydrodynamic diameter, and surface charge of coacervates. At the air-water interface, coacervates form monomolecular films, similar to phospholipids. surface-area measurements will be taken by Langmuir film balance to understand their functionality. The coacervates will be used as an adsorbent to remove dyes from the aqueous medium and as a template for the in situ production of metal nanoparticles, regulating their physicochemical properties.