ABSTRACT Proposal Number: CTS-9805896 Principal Investigator: C. Steiner A POWRE Award. The proposal is to study the self-assembling of amphiphilic molecules on surfaces in a variety of configurations: monolayers, bilayers, hemimicelles. The work will concentrate on two equilibrium surface phases, liquid condensed and liquid expanded and will focus on two dimensional assemblies of binary mixtures of surfactants on hydrophobic substrates. Fluorescence microscopy will permit direct visual observation of the domain structure, infrared spectroscopy to provide information about the average thickness and composition of the surface layer, and atomic force microscopy to determine the orientation of the molecules. The information will be used to understand the relationship between the characteristics of the absorbed layer, structure and composition, and the desorption kinetics of self-assembly. This POWRE award will enable the PI to initiate research in a new discipline and to take advantage of related state-of-the art technology.
