Opportunity at National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

Fundamentals of Charged Macromolecules at Interfaces

Location

Material Measurement Laboratory, Materials Science and Engineering Division

RO# Location
50.64.21.B6151 Gaithersburg, MD

Please note: This Agency only participates in the February and August reviews.

Advisers
name email phone
Prabhu, Vivek M. vprabhu@nist.gov 301.975.3657
Description

This research opportunity involves the diffusion and adsorption fundamentals of charged macromolecules (polyelectrolytes, DNA, colloids, gels) at the solid-liquid interface. Both emerging and established technologies depend and focus on charged macromolecules including the dissolution of advanced photoresists, microfluidic channel technologies to manipulate biological macromolecules such as DNA, and the controlled degradation of tissue engineering scaffold or drug delivery materials. To optimize performance and to design new applications, an improved understanding of the structure and dynamics of these molecules is needed. Because of the electrostatic interactions and connectivity of polymers, the dynamics and structure of these materials are affected by subtle changes in molecular weight, dielectric constant, charge valence, ionic strength, and charge density. The perturbation of the structure and dynamics at solid-liquid interfaces is poorly understood with respect to the influence of substrate insulating or conductive boundary conditions, surface chemical and topological patterning, and charge density. Model interfaces including solid supports and colloidal particles will be pursued by applying neutron reflectivity, neutron spin-echo spectroscopy, fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS), total-internal reflectance (evanescent-wave)-FCS, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, and quartz crystal microbalance.

Keywords:

Adsorption; Diffusion; Dissolution; Interfaces; Polyelectrolytes;

Eligibility

Citizenship:  Open to U.S. citizens

Level:  Open to Postdoctoral applicants

Stipend
Base Stipend Travel Allotment Supplementation
$74,950.00 $3,000.00