Research Thrust Area 1: Tailoring Interfacial Interactions

Thrust Leader: Chong Liu
Thrust Deputy Leader: George Schatz
Principal Investigators: Seth Darling, Juan de Pablo, Jeff Elam, Kelsey Hatzell, Paul Nealey, Dimitri Talapin, Matthew Tirrell

In Thrust 1, we aim to uncover the principles governing selective adsorption and transport of different target solutes. Biological ion channels can transport specific ions with high selectivity and speed. However, we still do not have the capability to predictively design a synthetic channel with excellent selectivity for any desired target ion or molecule of interest. Therefore, we will use synthetic strategies to create a platform of 2D channels with tunable dimensions and surface chemistries to understand, control, and predict the transport of ions and small molecules.

The transport mechanism of nanoparticles and macromolecules remains unclear due to the large parameter space, including the size, geometry, and chemistry of the nanoparticles/macromolecules. We propose to take advantage of our precise synthesis of nanoparticles and precise assembly and modification of isoporous membranes to study the transport of nanoparticles/macro-molecules to realize the selective separation of nanoparticles and macromolecules.