Major: Chemical Engineering

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Alejandro Gallegos

Contact: 

Research Project Summary:

Weak polyelectrolyte brushes are pH-responsive polymer chains that are tethered to an interface. Their structure and charge vary with solution conditions such as salt concentration and pH, as well as the number of chains grafted to the surface. In collaboration with Dr. Gallegos, we explore how these factors work together to control brush ionization and swelling by examining the behavior of these polymer chains using classical density functional theory. This approach allows us to capture the microstructure and thermodynamic properties of these brush systems. Because their response to the environment is tunable and reversible, weak polyelectrolyte brushes have potential applications ranging from antifouling coatings to controlled drug delivery and chelation processes involving multivalent ions, such as those targeted in clinical chelation therapies.