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Dr.
A. Vreugdenhil
Photogallery
Chemistry
Department
SCIRUS
TCMR
CHUGS
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Projects:
Overview
For most common applications, materials are carefully engineered to enhance their chemical passivity. Our goal is to develop new ways to make hybrid materials that are chemically active with respect to their environment. An example of this is the fabrication of a selectively permeable material which incorporates metal nanoparticles to produce a sensor for organics or a support for a nanoparticle catalyst with readily tunable porosity. Alternatively, instead of letting things in, we could let things out. This involves the controlled or triggered release of small molecules through encapsulation of selected molecular additives. This could be useful in drug delivery or corrosion inhibition systems. The potential applications for active materials are wide ranging.
Our approach is to build materials that contain two distinct components: a general, tunable matrix and chemically active inclusions on the molecular or nanometer scale. In our case, we use sol-gel chemistry involving water borne colloids which we crosslink with organic or photochemical reactions to produce our tailorable matrix. Additives either in the form of nanoparticles or molecules can be included at a number of different points along the way to provide a particular chemical or physical response capacity.
Take a look at some of the projects that we are currently undertaking in the area of active materials.
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