Dr. Maria Santore from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst will be presenting “All Stressed-Out: How Curvature and Tension Control Crystallization and Assembly in Two-Dimensional Complex Fluids” 

Flexible electronics and function-integrated synthetic skins or coatings require ultrathin flexible films, able to dynamically conform to complex shapes while reconfiguring internal constituents to alter their properties and connectivity.  We consider phospholipid lamellae as a model for a class of such 2D composites and complex fluids.  With thicknesses of only 4 nm, and integrating 2D solid particles that are plate-shaped in their simplest manifestation but which can be striped, faceted, or more complex, two phase lamella exhibit a breadth of complex behaviors reminiscent of classical complex fluids, but with counterintuitive dictated by the bending elasticity of the 2D lamellar fluid and crystalline 2D colloids.  This talk explores two separate ways in which elasticity from both the fluid and solid produces physically beautiful, sometimes counterintuitive application-relevant results:  Crystallization to form ultrathin (4 nm) solids by nucleation and growth, with control of shape through membrane bending and tension, and assembly of compact 2D colloids within the 2D membrane fluid into touch-sensitive arrays and networks.

Maria Santore is a Professor of Polymer Science and Engineering, with a secondary appointment Chemical Engineering at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.  Research in the Santore group aims, through its focus on soft material interfaces, to discover new interfacial behaviors and mechanisms and to translate new quantitative understanding to tangible scientific and technological advances.  Projects focus on soft materials in which relatively weak interactions allow reconfigurations in response to moderate forces, or in which interesting molecular behaviors produce new properties.