Exploring new frontiers of colloidal science: active colloids

探索胶体科学新领域：活性胶体

• 批准号: RGPIN-2017-03783
• 负责人: Natale, Giovanniantonio
• 金额: $ 1.75万
• 依托单位: University of Calgary
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=746951
• 关键词: Exploring; new; frontiers; colloidal; science

Active colloidal particles are micro/nano sized particles which are able to self-propel in fluids. Their ability to “swim” makes them interesting for new technological applications ranging from cargo particles for drug delivery to model suspensions to recreate synthetically the behaviour of biological systems. They may also display collective motion, similar to that commonly seen in nature, from swarming phenomena in bacterial colonies to flocks of birds or fish. These synthetic particles hold potential to revolutionize many common procedures applied in medicine. For example, their ability to swim against blood flow can be used to delivery therapeutics into wounds to halt hemorrhage or they can travel through the gastrointestinal tract and reach locations which are inherently difficult to hit without invasive surgeries. Furthermore, active colloids will be used as building blocks in designing new “active” composites. Thanks to the movement of their constitutive elements (the active particles), these new composites will be able to respond to external stimuli and change their mechanical, thermal and electrical properties on-the-fly.Motivated by these unique possibilities, this research program aims to (1) further develop fundamental knowledge in the field of active colloids and (2) exploit the unique properties of active colloids in generating new materials based on the combination of active colloids and complex fluids.In our research group, we will synthetize active colloidal particles, study their dynamics in complex fluids to gain insights into their behaviour in biological fluids (such as mucus, saliva or blood which are inherently viscoelastic) and finally design/develop new multi-functional composites. The results of our investigations will help us to engineer new solutions to control active colloids' direction of motion and improve their swimming speed and efficiency. Furthermore, a strong effort will be dedicated to completing the step towards drug-delivery applications that are currently within reach.Finally, the personnel involved in this research program will receive training on state-of-art technologies and they will acquire interdisciplinary scientific knowledge which will make them strong assets for the Canadian and International scientific community. This will enable them to respond to the scientific and technological needs of our society and to concretize better solutions to improve our daily quality of life.

活性胶体颗粒是能够在流体中自行形向的微型/纳米大小的颗粒。它们的“游泳”能力使它们对于新技术应用的有趣，包括用于药物输送的货物颗粒到建模悬浮液，以重现合成的生物系统行为。它们还可能显示出集体运动，类似于自然界中常见的运动，从细菌菌落中的蜂群到鸟类或鱼类。这些合成颗粒具有彻底改变医学中应用的许多常见程序的潜力。例如，他们对血流游泳的能力可用于将治疗疗法用于阻止出血的伤口，或者可以穿过胃肠道，并到达没有侵入性手术的情况下很难击中的位置。此外，主动胶体将用作设计新的“主动”组成的基础。感谢他们的构成元素（主动颗粒）的移动，这些新公司将能够对外部刺激做出反应，并改变其机械，热和电气特性，并在这些独特的可能性中吸引了这些研究计划，该研究计划旨在（1）进一步开发活跃胶体和（2）主动综合物质的基础知识的基本知识。在我们的研究小组中，我们将合成活跃的胶体颗粒，研究它们在复杂的流体中的动力学，以洞悉其在生物流体（例如粘液，唾液或血液固有的粘弹性）中的行为，并最终设计/开发新的多官能化合物。我们的调查结果将有助于我们设计新的解决方案，以控制主动胶体的运动方向并提高其游泳速度和效率。此外，将付出巨大的努力，致力于完成目前涉及的药物交付应用程序的步骤。在本文中，参与该研究计划的人将接受有关最先进技术的培训，他们将获得跨学科的科学知识，这将使他们为加拿大和国际科学界提供强大的资产。这将使他们能够满足我们社会的科学和技术需求，并集中精力的解决方案，以改善我们的日常生活质量。