CAREER: Harnessing the Interplay of Morphology, Viscoelasticity, and Surface-Active Agents to Modulate Soft Wetting

职业：利用形态、粘弹性和表面活性剂的相互作用来调节软润湿

• 批准号: 2336504
• 负责人: Wei Wang
• 金额: $ 50.54万
• 依托单位: University of Tennessee Knoxville
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2024-02-15 至 2029-01-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2336504&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; Harnessing; Interplay; Morphology; Viscoelasticity

Understanding the wetting behavior of liquids on soft surfaces is of significant scientific importance toward the design of functional surfaces with enhanced adaptability and sustainability for environmental and healthcare applications. The goal of this award is to investigate how micro-texture and softness of polymeric substrates synergistically affect wetting behavior of various liquids, including both simple liquids and liquids containing surfactants. A series of studies will be performed using textured surfaces and porous substrates with different micro-textures and different softness to uncover key factors governing the interactions between liquids and soft textured surfaces. A host of educational activities are integrated with the proposed project to provide interdisciplinary learning experiences to pre-college, undergraduate, and graduate students. The proposed science kit-based public engagement activity, which involves development of the “Magic of Soft Surfaces” science kit, will engage K-12 students in fun science experiments, and provide training opportunities to the science teachers.In contrast to the well-established knowledge of wetting on rigid surfaces, the fundamental mechanisms regulating soft wetting are much less explored. There is a lack of understanding of how the interplay between morphology, viscoelasticity, and surface-active agents regulates soft wetting. The overarching goal of this award is to advance the fundamental understanding of soft wetting phenomena by closing these knowledge gaps. This goal will be achieved by performing interdisciplinary research to: (1) define the structure-property-performance relationships characterizing wetting behaviors of soft textured surfaces, (2) unveil the governing mechanisms of liquid imbibition, droplet absorption, and wetting resistance in soft porous substrates, and (3) probe how surface-active agents alter wetting ridge and soft wetting behavior. The findings of this project will result in original and transformative knowledge, which has the potential to pave the way for discovering novel functionalities of soft materials. An integrated education plan that involves various activities is woven into the proposed research through (1) undergraduate and graduate education and research, (2) pre-college education, and (3) broader community education and outreach.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

了解液体在软表面上的润湿行为对于具有增强的适应性和可持续性的功能表面设计至关重要。该奖项的目的是研究聚合物底物的微观和柔软性如何协同影响各种液体的润湿行为，包括简单液体和含有表面的液体。一系列研究将使用具有不同微文字的纹理表面和多孔底物进行行为，并且柔软度不同，以发现液体与柔软纹理表面之间相互作用的关键因素。拟议项目将许多教育活动融合在一起，以提供跨学科的学习经验，以预科，本科生和研究生。拟议的基于科学工具包的公共参与活动涉及开发“软表面的魔术”科学工具包，它将吸引K-12学生进行有趣的科学实验，并为科学教师提供培训机会。相比之下，与刚性表面上润湿的知识相反，对重新润湿的基本机制进行了较少的探索。缺乏对形态，粘弹性和表面活性剂之间如何调节软润湿之间的相互作用的了解。该奖项的总体目标是通过缩小这些知识差距来提高对软润湿现象的基本理解。该目标将通过进行跨学科研究来实现：（1）定义表征柔软纹理表面的润湿行为的结构质体性 - 表现关系，（2）揭示了液体吸收，液滴吸收的控制机制，液滴吸收和柔软的润湿性湿润的行为和（3）柔软的润湿性既定性又具有润湿性的反感。该项目的发现将导致原始的和变革性的知识，这有可能为发现新型软材料的新功能铺平道路。通过（1）本科和研究生教育和研究，（2）大学前教育和（3）更广泛的社区教育和外展活动将涉及各种活动的综合教育计划编织成拟议的研究。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并通过基金会的知识优点和广泛的影响来评估NSF的法定任务，并被认为是值得的支持。