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The principal activities of the Lewis Group involve colloidal assembly of materials. Our efforts are directed towards establishing fundamental knowledge of colloidal stability of complex fluids as well as their structural evolution during fabrication. We are developing broad expertise in probing colloidal interactions via rheological techniques, in situ drying stress measurements, and direct visualization techniques (e.g., confocal microscopy).

We have studied the phase behavior of a broad range of complex fluids, including colloid mixtures, colloid-polymer mixtures, colloid-filled hydrogels, and polyelectrolyte mixtures. Our approach relies on establishing the structure of, and transitions between the fluid, gel, crystalline and glassy states as a function of varying composition, size, and interparticle interaction strength. With this knowledge, we can design novel systems for fabricating functional ceramics, photonic band gap materials, catalyst supports, and scaffolds for biological self assembly.

Our efforts in directed assembly of colloid-based structures rely on robotically controlled deposition of novel colloidal inks. Our approach focuses on architecting complex, 3-D structures with locally tailored structure and composition spanning multiple length scales (~ 100 nm - 1 mm).

Our work is funded principally by the National Science Foundation, Department of Energy, MURI, and NASA, and has benefited from fruitful collaborations with Sandia National Laboratories and industry.

Interdisciplinary Research

Interactions with faculty in:

• Chemical Engineering
• Materials Research Laboratory
• Beckman Institute
• Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Theoretical and Applied Mechanics