Taneja Young is a junior undergraduate in Yale College studying for a B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering (expected date of graduation 2012).

Her hobbies include playing board games, reading, writing, talking & philosophizing. In executing her lab experiments, she constantly hopes for serendipity.

My research is aimed at answering the following questions:

Q1. What is the influence of anisotropic nanomaterial inclusions on the phase behavior of lyotropic surfactant mesophases?

Q2. What is the influence of monomer addition on the phase behavior of lyotropic surfactant mesophases?

Overall, the research is concerned with the development of methods that will enable understanding of and control over nanomaterial assembly in thin polymer films.

Methods:

So far, a facile method for the fabrication of a vertically aligned single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) composite film using magnetic field aligned polymerizable lyotropic surfactant mesophases as structure directing templates has been developed. In this project, we will use this method to investigate the effect of (a) different aspect ratios of SWNTs and different types of nanomaterial (including ZnO & Bi2Te3 nanowires); (b) the addition of various monomers on the phase behavior of the lyotropic matrix.

We will highlight the role of nanomaterial surface chemistry and aspect ratio on the stabilization or destabilization of hexagonally packed cylindrical worm-like micellar phases of both non-ionic and ionic surfactant systems

Utility:

It is hoped that the results will contribute to the understanding of nanomaterial assembly in thin polymer films. The ability to align nanowires of zinc(II) oxide (ZnO) and bismuth telluride (Bi2Te3) and carbon nanotubes has important implications for the generation of hybrid organic-inorganic photovoltaics, piezoelectric arrays and thermoelectric arrays (Bi2Te3) as well as size-exclusion membranes which can be used for water desalination and analytical separations (carbon nanotubes). As a result it is important to understand the physical chemistry which dictates the effect of these materials on the phase behavior of the surfactant mesophase. This study helps to address this area.

Photovoltaics have become increasingly important in the quest to find sustainable alternatives to current energy technology; piezoelectric arrays and thermoelectric arrays (Bi2Te3) are widely used in modern electronic devices and size-exclusion membranes can be used for water desalination and analytical separations (carbon nanotubes). Thus, the knowledge gleaned from our study will find no shortage of applications to pressing, real-world issues.