SUMMER RESEARCH TRAINING IN MEMBRANE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 2008 NSF REU SITE PROGRAM at the UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI
The Department of Chemical & Materials Engineering, College of Engineering is pleased to offer this research project as part of the 2008 summer NSF-REU Site Program administered by the Department of Pharmacology & Cell Biophysics.  Students interested in this project are urged to contact Professor Co to discover more about the project and learn what your responsibilities will be during the ten-week research training program.
Project #:  08 - 002        Faculty Supervisor/Mentor: Carlos C. Co, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Chemical & Materials Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Cincinnati Email:  carlos.co@ uc.edu
Polymerized Membranes: Self-Assembled Templates with Glassy Sugar
General background and significance of the project: Ultrafiltration membranes are traditionally manufactured by immersion or melt casting of polymer solutions yielding membranes with skin layers that effect separation.  A promising approach for manufacturing ultrafiltration membranes with uniform pores relies on the polymerization of self-assembled surfactant nanostructures.  Our approach offers an economical and practical solution to this problem by replacing water with glassy sugar in these self-assembled surfactant templates.  Successful polymerization of these templates would lead to membranes with uniform and finely tunable nanometer-size pores whose dimensions are dictated by the quasi-equilibrium thermodynamics of the glassy sugar/surfactant template.  After polymerization, the sugar and surfactant can be readily rinsed off with water and recycled, thereby foregoing the use of toxic solvents prevalent in traditional membrane manufacturing processes.
Brief description of proposed research and activities for the 10-week REU period: The REU student who participates in this project will be involved in the characterization of the phase behavior, mechanical properties, and nanostructure of these novel class of micro-emulsions and the resulting membranes using a variety of techniques, including, AFM, MDSC, SEM, ESEM, TEM and permeability/selectivity measurements.
What the REU Student can gain from participating in this project: This project offers the REU student with extensive hands-on experience in the development of a novel environmentally friendly membrane fabrication process from which the REU student will also gain a better appreciation and broader understanding of the science of micro-emulsions and other complex fluids. Significant research contributions by the REU student will earn co-authorship in presentations and publications arising from the research.