Colloid science and complex fluids are major areas of strength in our department. Specific research projects include experimental and theoretical studies of complex fluids including foams, suspensions, granular materials, asymmetric particle suspensions, and gels as well as computational and experimental studies of poly-electrolyte inks, polymer melts and solutions, lipid membranes and colloids. Moreover, strong ties with researchers in the Departments of Mechanical Science & Engineering and Materials Science & Engineering, and state of the art characterization facilities available through the School of Chemical Sciences, the Materials Research Laboratory, and the Beckman Institute, offer a truly impressive environment for advanced complex fluids research that has no equal in the nation.
- Steve Granick – Rheology and imaging of soft materials: fluid membranes, liposomes, polymers, colloids, and other structured liquids at surfaces
- Jonathan J. L. Higdon – Computational algorithms to simulate structure formation in suspensions, order-disorder transitions, and the dynamics of non-spherical particles (platelets and long flexible-particle chains)
- Jennifer A. Lewis – Directed and self assembly of materials comprised of colloidal, nanoparticle, and polyelectrolyte building blocks to unravel their phase behavior, structure, and rheology
- Charles M. Schroeder – Single-molecule tool development for condensed matter and polymer physics
- Kenneth S. Schweizer – Molecular-scale statistical mechanical theories for the equilibrium and dynamic properties of polymers, colloids, nanoparticles, liquid crystals, and elastomers
- Charles F. Zukoski – Granular materials: study of particle interactions, microstructure, and phase behavior in sheared and compacting slurries of nanoparticles; asymmetric colloids
