Contact Information:
e-mail:
phone: (217) 244-4973
212a Ceramic Building
MC-246,
105 South Goodwin
Urbana, IL 61801
The principal activities of the Lewis Group involve the directed and self assembly of materials comprised of colloidal, nanoparticle, and polyelectrolyte building blocks. Our efforts are aimed at establishing fundamental knowledge of the phase behavior, structure, rheology, and assembly of complex fluids. We are developing broad expertise in probing such interactions via light scattering, rheological techniques, in situ drying stress measurements, and direct visualization techniques, such as confocal microscopy and high speed imaging.
We have studied the phase behavior of a broad range of complex fluids, including colloid mixtures, colloid-polymer mixtures, colloid-filled hydrogels, and reactive colloid systems. Our approach relies on establishing the structure of, and transitions between the fluid, gel, crystalline and glassy states as a function of varying composition, size, and interparticle interaction strength. With this knowledge, we can design novel systems for fabricating functional ceramics, photonic band gap materials, catalyst supports, and scaffolds for biological self assembly.
Our efforts in direct-write assembly focus on creating complex, 3-D structures of locally tailored structure and composition at the mesoscale (~ 0.5 µm to 1 mm). New areas of interest include self patterning films and microfluidic-directed assembly of materials.
K. S. Toohey, N. R. Sottos, J. A. Lewis, J. S. Moore and S. R. White, "Self-healing Materials with Microvascular Networks," Nature Materials, 6, 723-733 (2007).
F. Garcia-Santamaria, M. Xu, V. Lousse, S. Fan, P. V. Braun, J. A. Lewis, "A Germanium Inverse Woodpile Structure with a Large Photonic Bandgap," Advanced Materials, 19, 1567-1570 (2007).
D. Therriault, S. White, and J.A. Lewis, "Rheological Behavior of Fugitive Organic Inks for Direct-Write Assembly," Applied Rheology, 17, 10112-1 - 10112-8 (2007).
D. J. Harris, H. Hu, J. C. Conrad, J. A. Lewis "Patterning Colloidal Films via Evaporative Lithography," Physical Review Letters, 98, 148301 (2007).
J.A. Lewis, J.E. Smay, J. Stuecker, and J. Cesarano, "Direct-Write Assembly of 3-D Ceramic Structures," Journal of the American Ceramic Society, 89 [12] 3599-609 (2006).
J.A. Lewis "Direct Ink Writing of 3D Functional Materials," Advanced Functional Materials, 16, 2193-2204 (2006).
R.B. Rao, V.L. Kobelev, Q. Li, J.A. Lewis, K S. Schweizer, "Nonlinear Elasticity and Yielding of Nanoparticle Glasses," Langmuir, 22, 2441-2443 (2006).
R.F. Shepherd, J.C. Conrad, S.K. Rhodes, D.R. Link, M, Marquez, D. A. Weitz, J. A. Lewis "Microfluidic Assembly of Homogeneous and Janus Colloid-Filled Hydrogel Granules," Langmuir, 22 [21], 8618-8622 (2006).
M. Xu, G. M. Gratson, E. B. Duoss, R. F. Shepherd, J. A. Lewis "Biomimetic Silicification of 3D Polyamine-rich Scaffolds Assembled by Direct Ink Writing," Soft Matter, 2, 205-209 (2006).
S. K. Rhodes, J. A. Lewis, "Phase Behavior, 3-D Structure, and Rheology of Colloidal Microsphere-Nanoparticle Suspensions," J. Am. Ceram. Soc., 89, 1840-1846 (2006).
G. M. Gratson, F. Garcia-Santamaria, V. Lousse, M. Xu, S. Fan, J. A. Lewis, P. V. Braun, "Direct-Write Assembly of Three-Dimensional Photonic Crystals: Conversion of Polymer Scaffolds to Silicon Hollow-Woodpile Structures," Adv. Mat., 18, 461-465 (2006).
