Research

Nano and Microscale Interfacial Science

Field-Driven Dynamics and Transport: Programming Motion, Collective Behavior, and Selectivity  

External fields provide powerful ways to drive nano- and mmcroscale particles far from equilibrium and control its motion, transport, and organization. Our research uses electric and magnetic fields to investigate how particle shape, surface chemistry, polarization, and interactions with nearby interfaces determine individual and collective dynamics at the micro- and nanoscale. We are interested in how small differences in interfacial properties can give rise to large differences in particle motion, localization, and transport, providing new approaches for selective separations. We seek to experimentally connect molecular-scale interfacial properties with particle-scale dynamics and emergent collective behavior. These fundamental insights enable new ways to program particle dynamics, selective transport, and microscale manipulation.

Materials Assembly: Designing Structure Across Scales

We investigate how interfacial interactions and external fields can be used to organize nano and microscale building blocks into materials with controlled structure and function. The central goal is to understand how particle-particle and particle-surface interactions determine the pathways by which structures form, reorganize, and respond to their surroundings. By combining tailored interfaces with electric and magnetic fields, we further direct interparticle interactions and assembly across multiple length and time scales and explore both equilibrium and nonequilibrium routes to material formation. This work connects fundamental questions in interfacial science with the disign of materials and processes for advanced manufacturing, separations, responsive materials, and microscale devices.

Environmental Interfaces: Microplastics, PFAS, and river sediments

Many environmental processes are ultimately controlled by what happens at interfaces. We study how molecular and nanoparticle interfaces govern the transport, transformation, and interactions of emerging contaminants and naturally occurring materials, with particular emphasis on microplastics, PFAS, and sediments. Our microplastics research explores how weathering changes surface chemistry, charge, hydration, and interactions with water, contaminants, and atmospheric environments. For PFAS, we investigate adsorption, molecular organization, and transport at solid-water and other environmentally relevant interfaces to understand how interfacial chemistry controls their mobility and persistence. We also study the collective behavior of sediment particles, including how interparticle forces and water-mediated interactions influence compaction, erosion, and transport. Together, this work uses fundamental interfacial science to understand environmental processes across molecular, particle, and macroscopic scales.