Behaviour of polyelectrolyte brushes and Hydrogels in Different pH Environments
University of Sheffield
Rita La Spina is a research associate in the Polyfilm network and she is doing PHD at the University of Sheffield.
Her past experience in the research field dealt with:
synthesis and characterisation of a thermoplastic copolymer (poly ether sulfone\poly ether ether sulfone ) using polycondensation tecniques.
characterisation of the rheological properties of the system formed by epoxy resin that reacts with a thermoplastic polymer.
characterisation of the mechanical properties of the system formed by epoxy resin that reacts with a thermoplastic polymer.
study of the interactions between polyelectrolytes in solution using 1H-NMR, UV-vis, fluorescence techniques.
This past experience will help her to develop her PhD project which is to study the different conformations of a novel polyelectrolyte brush at different pH, including its interaction with external media (more specifically a polyelectrolyte gel of the same or different composition).
Current project:
The project deals with the interaction between polyelectrolyte brushes and polyelectrolyte hydrogels with the same and different charges. For studying this system she is developing a modified JKR set up with constant vertical force. The pictures below (coming soon) show the PMAA hydrogel on the PDMAEMA brushes at low and high pH.
