报告题目: Intermolecular and Surface Interactions in Soft Materials, Oil Sands and Mineral Processing
报告人: Hongbo Zeng (曾宏波), PhD, Assistant Professor
Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Alberta
报告时间: 2010年12月22日，14:30-16:00
Soft materials are central to a wide range of engineering and biomedical applications. Examples include polymers, biopolymers, composites, soft biogenic materials, liquid crystals and surfactants. Many of the properties and applications of soft materials are strongly based on the weak but long-range interactions among the molecular or supramolecular constituents. However, it is still poorly understood how and why these interactions lead to hierarchical structures of soft materials and, in most cases, time-dependent physical and engineering properties. Improving our fundamental understanding of the intermolecular and surface interactions of soft materials and various systems at the molecular and nano scales is needed to develop new materials and further technologies in materials science, chemical engineering, mineral processing, bioengineering, and nanotechnology. Here I briefly review some recent progress in our group in understanding the fundamental interaction mechanisms in several systems by using various nanoscopic techniques: (1) adhesion and detachment mechanisms of polymer surfaces and thin films, (2) interactions of biological surfaces and fouling mechanism (dry gecko and wet marine mussel adhesive systems), (3) intermolecular and surface interactions of heavy oils and clays in oil sand industry.
(References: Zeng, H.,et al. PNAS2010,Macromolecules2010,JBC2010,Soft matter2010,PNAS2009)
Dr. Zeng received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Polymer Materials & Chemical Engineering from Tsinghua University, Ph.D. degree in Chemical Engineering from University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). Before joining the University of Alberta, Dr. Zeng was a research specialist in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Research Laboratory at UCSB. Dr. Zeng’s research interests are in surface and colloid science, soft materials, and nanotechnology, with a special focus on the intermolecular and surface interactions in soft materials (including polymers, biomacromolecules, nano-structured materials, and complex fluids), biological systems, engineering systems (oil sands and mineral processing), and development of advanced functional materials with novel engineering and biomedical applications.
