Research Projects

The research focuses on the ability to structure liquid droplets within immiscible liquids and reconfigure them on demand. This involves freezing droplets in non-equilibrium shapes within another liquid, requiring the formation of an elastic film at the liquid-liquid interface. In Pickering type emulsions, colloids migrate to the oil-water interface, forming "liquid-like" assemblies that are highly dynamic and show mobility at the 2D plane. However, increasing the concentration of colloids at the interface leads to interfacial jamming, resulting in a solid-like structure with enhanced mechanical properties. This proposal proposes dynamic chemical interactions, such as noncovalent and dynamic covalent interactions, to create "liquid-like" assemblies by crosslinking colloids at the interface. Compressing the droplet volume will jam the assemblies, creating a solid-like structure. Preliminary studies have used pillar[5]arene, a supramolecular host, to structure liquid droplets via hydrogen bonding interactions. Further studies will vary the structures and functional groups of pillar[n]arene derivatives, as well as employing noncovalent interactions like "host-guest" interaction. The dynamic jamming concept will be extended to visualize aggregation-induced emission phenomena at the interface. The proposal also addresses gated molecular diffusion from interfacial constructs, creating a "lock-unlock" transition to control gated diffusion. The ultimate goal is to create a system with finite "lock-unlock" lifetime for programmable diffusion of solute across the interface, creating life-like materials.