Shan Jiang, assistant professor of materials science and engineering, and his team had research published in Nano Letters, a high-impact journal published by the American Chemical Society.
The research is centered around the activation and creation of “Plasmonic-Magnetic Nanosurfactants for Encapsulation and Triggered Release.”
The team behind the research includes postdoctoral research associates Fei Liu; graduate students Yifan Li, Yanhua Huang, Ayuna Tsyrenova and Kyle Miller; U.S. Department of Ames Laboratory scientist Lin Zhou and assistant professor of industrial and manufacturing systems engineering Hantang Qin.
“We discovered a new route to fabricate ‘nano-surfactants’,” Jiang said. “These nanoparticles have a Janus dumbbell like geometry and present even higher surface activity than the small surfactant molecules. They can also encapsulate different reagents, heat up under laser beam, and respond to the environmental changes. We are now actively exploring the applications of this new platform in areas including diagnosis, separation, drug delivery, advanced manufacturing and catalysis.”
Supporting information included within the published piece highlights the preparation of, self-assembly process and the emulsion stabilization of nanosurfactants.